#this episode was just setting up for 20 to crash down

[spooksnett]

I just listened to TMAG19 on patreon release and oh no guys...oh no...episode 20 is going to hurt us all...no one is safe...oh no...bad things are coming...

[dianawinchester03]

Season 2, Episode 20 - What Is And What Should Never Be (Part Two)

Series Masterlist

Authors Note: Part Two!!! If you haven’t read part one yet, go here. You’ll need to read it to understand this and the series. Hope everyone likes!❤️

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Y/N had gone to work and Dean was lounging in their living room, finishing off Y/N’s beer as he flipped through channels on the TV set. Dean let out a content, “Ahhh” as he clicked the remote, landing on a news station. “And today marks the anniversary of the crash of United Britannia Flight 424” The newscaster said.

Dean’s heart dropped, his eyes widening as he leaned forward, instantly recognizing the flight by name. “Indianapolis residents held a candlelight vigil in memory of the victims” Dean could feel his fear growing, “No no no. We stopped that crash” His mind going back to that day they had to exorcise a demon on a plane.

-

Dean was now in front of Y/N’s laptop, running his hand over his face as he stared, eyewide at the headline on the article. ‘Flight 424 Crashes. 108 dead’ the headline read. He began skimming the internet for all their previous hunts within the past two years, the words ‘nine children comatose’, ‘parents mutilated’, ‘girl drowns in hotel pool’ rang through his head.

Dean felt sick to his stomach as he read about all the people they saved over the years were now gone, as if all what they did was for nothing. This reality was too much for him, he desperately wanted a normal life but seeing this…it didn't sit right with him.

At the corner of his eye, Dean saw the figure of a woman drift in the hallway. His eyes snapped up to see no one there, he knew it couldn't be Y/N. He knows her figure like the back of his hand, so immediately he got up and rushed into the room. The seemingly empty room.

Dean heard something move in the closet, his head snapping in the direction. He attempted to reach for his gun he keeps in the back of his jeans, only to pat air. Forgetting that he's a civilian and not a hunter. The instinct came naturally. Dean then swiftly opened the door to see the skeletal remains of a man and a woman, hanging by their wrists from the ceiling.

Dean stared at it in shock and fear, before he could do anything, he sensed a presence behind him. He quickly turned around to see the young girl he saw outside the college and in the restaurant, a bleeding wound was prominent on her forehead. Her spirit then diminished out of sight. Leaving Dean stunned.

He spun around to see the skeletal remains he saw just a few seconds ago were now gone. "What the…" Dean muttered under his breath, his eyes darting around the room where the skeletons had been not a moment ago. "What the hell is going on?" He repeated to himself, trying to make sense of everything he had just witnessed.

Frustration boiled within him as he ran a hand through his messy hair, feeling utterly helpless. He took a deep, shaky breath before quickly exiting the room. "Screw it. I need a drink" Dean mumbled, grabbing his keys and heading out the door.

____________________________________________

Thunder was rolling as lightning filled the dark sky where Dean stood in the cemetery. He looked down at the headstone that read ‘John Winchester’ with anger, sorrow, pity and a bit of hatred. “All of them. Everyone that you and F/N saved. Everyone that Sammy, Y/N/N and I saved. They're all dead”

The anger in his voice was palpable, as he looked down at the grave with clenched fists. "Everyone!" he repeated, his voice hoarse with emotion. The rain that fell from the sky did little to soothe his anger as he continued to glare at the headstone.

For a moment, he was silent, the only sound being the pattering of rain on his jacket and the distant rumble of thunder. Then he spoke again, his voice barely above a whisper. "And there’s this girl that's haunting me. I don’t know why. Y/N can’t even feel her, I mean, how can she not see her? The chick feels everything, it's annoying sometimes!”

He sighed frustrated, leaning against a neighboring headstone, not even caring if he got mud on himself. "I don’t know why. I don’t know what the connection is." he muttered, raising the bottle of whiskey to his lips. The alcohol burned down his throat, but he welcomed the sensation.

It was a distraction for the moment, a way to numb the pain and anger that churned within him. But as the liquid coursed through his veins, it also made his head feel fuzzy and he soon found himself slumping against the headstone, his eyes growing heavy.

He knew he should probably get up and get out of here, but the weight of everything seemed too heavy, too much to bear. He sighed and took another swig of whiskey, hoping that it would bring him closer to unconsciousness.

“Its like my old life is coming after me or something, you know? Like it doesn’t want me to be happy” Dean rambled in frustration before glaring at his fathers headstone. “Of course, I know what you and f/n say. Well…not the two of you that played softball, but…” Dean’s throat constricted as he held back tears.

“You guys would say, ‘Go hunt the djinn. Hey, it put you here, it could put you back’” Dean said bitterly. “‘Your happiness for all those people’s lives. No contest right?’” Dean further quoted his father and F/N. Dean took a shaky breath, his vision growing hazy as the alcohol continued to take its toll on him.

He knew he was rambling, but the words just kept pouring out of him, fueled by the mixture of anger, sadness and confusion. "I just... I just don’t get it" he murmured, his voice barely above a whisper, “But why? Why is it my job to save these people? Why do I have to be some kind of hero?!” Dean exclaimed, his heart clenching as the tears flowed freely down his cheeks.

“What about us, huh?! What? Mom’s not supposed to live her life. Me and Sammy aren’t supposed to get married? Why do we have to sacrifice everything, Dad?! It’s-” The words died in his throat again, so he brought the bottle to his lips.

The whiskey burned as it traveled down his throat, but he didn't care. The pain from the burn dulled the emotional pain that threatened to consume him. He slouched further down against the headstone, the bottle clutched tightly in his hand.

His gaze fell on his father's grave again, his eyes narrowing faintly. "Why can’t I just have a normal life? Why does it always to come back to this?" he let out a bitter laugh, "It’s like I’m cursed or something" He took another swig from the bottle, his grip loosening as the alcohol took effect.

Dean let out a deep breath, feeling the world spin slightly as he attempted to push himself up. His legs felt weak and shaky, but he managed to stand. "Yeah." He muttered, stumbling forward a few steps. He didn’t even look back as he made his way out of the cemetery and towards his car.

-

Dean woke up the next morning in bed, his head was still fuzzy, a nauseous feeling in his stomach. He groaned, his hand moving to cover his eyes as he slowly sat up, blinking groggily to adjust to the light in the room. He rubbed his temples, trying to ease the throbbing headache that had taken up residence in his head.

His eyes glanced over to see the time on the clock, 6:30 a.m.

He heard the sound of the toilet flushing in the bathroom and saw a tall glass of water and a bottle of Tylenol was placed neatly on the nightstand. Dean grimaced slightly as he reached for the Tylenol and popped a few pills into his mouth before washing them down with the water.

The coolness of the liquid helped to soothe his raw throat, and he exhaled heavily. He heard footsteps approaching from the bathroom, but before he could turn to look, Y/N swung the door open, a slight frown on her face.

Y/N leaned against the doorway, her arms crossed over her chest, "Hey." she said, her voice gentle but with a hint of concern. Dean looked up at her, guilt hitting him as he saw the look on her face. He knew by the look on her face that this wasn’t the first time he came home late and drunk, he could see the disappointment in her eyes.

But that wasn’t it, she was nervous. Y/N moved over to the bed and sat down beside him, reaching out to take his hand in hers. Her thumb rubbed soothingly over the back of his hand, trying to offer comfort despite the obvious worry she was feeling.

"You okay?" She asked softly, studying his face intently. He nodded slowly, looking down at their clasped hands. He squeezed her hand gently, meeting her gaze. "Yeah, I’m fine," he mumbled. A lie. “I-“ Y/N tried to tell him what she just found out while she was in the bathroom but her tone was shaky.

Seeing the hesitance on Y/N's face, Dean's heart dropped. "What is it? What's wrong?" He asked, concern etching his features. He squeezed her hand again, silently encouraging her to speak. Y/N took a deep breath before meeting his gaze once again. Her free hand was buried in her robe pocket, clutching the positive pregnancy test in her hand.

“I know we talked about it before… we spoke about doing it after our wedding. I’m ready to do this and I know you are too but-“ She sighed before slowly retracting it from her pocket, placing it into Dean’s hand. Dean's eyes widened as he stared down at the pregnancy test in his hand, his heart skipping a beat when he saw those two pink lines.

His hand trembled slightly as he held it, his mind spinning with a mixture of shock, joy, and trepidation. He looked back up at Y/N, his gaze intense and full of an array of emotions. "You're... pregnant? We're having a baby?" Tears welled up in Y/N’s eyes as she nodded, “After I left for work last night, the beer made me sick and I puked my life out. My boss sent me home early, then I realized my period was late…really late”

A flood of emotions coursed through Dean like a tidal wave. He gently set the pregnancy test down beside him and brought Y/N into his lap, wrapping his arms around her in a tight embrace.

"We're gonna have a baby," he repeated, his voice full of awe and love. He pulled back slightly to look at Y/N, his eyes glimmering with happiness. "I can't believe it. This is..." He trailed off, too overwhelmed to find the right words to express his feelings.

This wasn't real. Is what his mind screamed at him.

Y/N was more than pleased with Dean’s reaction to her positive pregnancy test. Clinging to Dean for dear life as she sobbed, “We’re gonna be such bad ass parents” She chuckled through tears. Dean chuckled softly, holding Y/N tighter against him. He buried his face in her hair, taking in her scent and relishing in the feeling of her in his arms.

"We definitely are," he agreed, his hand stroking her back soothingly. "We'll be the best damn parents our kid could ask for." All while saying this, he knew what had to be done. Desperately trying his hardest not to cry, because this is all he wanted, but he knew he couldn’t have it.

“Do you have to work today?” Dean asked her tenderly as he traced circles on her back. Y/N shook her head, feeling the comforting touch of his fingers tracing her back. "No," she murmured, "I have today off, thankfully." She snuggled closer to him, relishing in the feeling of his warmth.

"Why? What’s up?” She asked curiously, tilting her head up to look at him. "Just asking," he said lightly, trying to keep his voice steady. "I have some stuff I need to take care of today.” He explained. "I’ll be gone for a bit, but I’ll be back in a couple of hours, okay?” He placed a kiss on her forehead, attempting to mask his pain with a smile.

Y/N nodded against his chest, feeling a slight sense of unease but not wanting to push the matter. "Okay, baby, I’ll be here," she replied. "Just be careful, alright?" He nodded, pressing another kiss to her temple. "I will," he reassured her.

Reluctantly, he gently eased her off his lap and rose from the bed, grabbing a shirt from the dresser. "I should get going though. I love you, princess." Those words struck Dean to his core. Y/N watched him get dressed, her heart heavy with worry and confusion but she plastered a small smile on her face. "I love you too, charming," she told him.

Once Dean was gone, Y/N sat quietly on the bed, her heart heavy with confusion. It was as if something was off about him, but she couldn’t quite put her finger on it. She tried to push the thoughts aside, knowing he probably had something important to take care of, but she couldn’t shake the feeling that something was amiss.

With a sigh, she laid back on the bed, trying to find comfort in the soft sheets and the familiar scent of the man she loved.

Once out in the garage, Dean leaned against Baby, his shoulders slumping as the weight of what he needed to do hit him all at once. With a sigh, he got in his car and started the engine, the only thing on his mind was the decision he had to make.

____________________________________________

Sam jolted awake in his bed to the sound of the door opening downstairs, it was way early in the morning, he instantly clutched the baseball bat he had under his bed. Gently padding over to the door.

Sam slowly opened the door, his grip on the baseball bat tightening as he strained his ears to listen for any sounds. Hearing the faint sound of movement downstairs, he cautiously made his way out of the room, keeping the bat raised just in case.

He saw the figure of a man in the dark house rummaging through the China cabinet as he peered from the corner. Sam's eyes widened as he saw the figure in the dark. He stayed hidden behind the corner for a moment, his heart racing as he tried to decide what to do.

He gripped the bat tighter, launching himself at the ‘intruder’. Dean swiftly dodged the attack and tackled Sam to the ground, pinning him down with his body. “That was so easy, I’m embarrassed for you?” Dean quipped. "Dean?" Sam exclaimed, breathing heavily, "What the hell are you doing here?" Shoving his brother off of him to push himself to his feet.

“I was looking for a beer” Dean joked, patting Sam on his shoulder. A wave of nostalgia washed over him at the interaction. “In the China cabinet?” Sam questioned, his brows furrowed as he padded over to the wall to flick the light on. His eyes glanced over to the table to see a box of their mom’s expensive knives.

“That’s mom’s silver” Sam pointed out, “Sam-” Dean sighed but his brother cut him off. “Wait, you broke into the house to steal Mom’s silver?!” Sam lowly exclaimed. “It's not what it looks like, okay? I didn't have a choice” Dean tried to defend. “Oh really? What's so fucking important that you gotta steal from your own mother?”

Dean grimaced, raking his fingers roughly through his hair as he tried to find the right words. "You want the truth?" He grumbled. The disappointment in Sam's voice was evident, and it cut deep. But he knew he couldn't tell him the truth. At least not yet. "Yeah. Yeah I do," Sam urged him as he nodded, Dean sighed before coming up with a shitty excuse.

“I owe somebody money.” Sam rolled his eyes. Typical Dean, he thought to himself. “Who?” He asked. “A bookie. I lost big on a game. I gotta bring him the cash tonight” Dean lied. “I can’t believe we’re even related” Sam mumbled, shaking his head. Dean’s face dropped, his heart aching in his chest.

“Sam, I’m sorry” Dean apologized sincerely, “Yeah” Sam rolled his eyes. “I’m sorry that we don't get along. I’m sorry that you and y/n/n aren’t friends anymore because of me. And I wish to hell that I could stay and fix it, fix everything.” His voice cracked. “I wish I could stay and be a father….but I gotta do this” Dean said, his voice filled with determination.

“People’s lives depend on it” Dean sighed heavily before picking up one of the silver knives from the red box. “What are you talking about, Dean?” Sam asked lowly, confusion clear in his tone. “Nothing. Forget it. Just…uh…” Dean said as he turned back to his brother. “Hey. Tell Mom I love her. And tell my princess that I’m so sorry” Dean said with a sad smile.

Sam's confusion turned to alarm as he watched Dean pick up the knife. "Dean, what-?" he started to say, but before he could finish his thought, he saw Dean's sad smile and his stomach dropped. Dean turned on his heels to walk out of the room. “Dean” Sam tried to stop his brother from leaving.

“I’ll see you, Sammy” Dean said tenderly, pulling the door open. He gave the house one last sorrow filled and painstaking look. Then he stepped outside and closed the door behind him. Sam stared down the shut door for a few seconds, his mind spiraling. “What the hell, Dean?” He muttered to himself.

He couldn’t shake the uneasy feeling in his gut as his worries about Dean only increased. Sam was left standing in the doorway, his heart heavy and his mind racing. He couldn't understand what had just happened. Why had Dean been acting so strangely? Why had he stolen the silver, and why had he talked about people's lives depending on it?

Sam's mind raced through possibilities and worst-case scenarios, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't make sense of it. Immediately, Sam fished his phone out of his pocket to call the one person he knew would get through to Dean.

Dialing Y/N’s number, he waited anxiously for her to answer. The seconds felt like hours as he held his breath, silently praying for her to pick up the call. Finally, after what felt like an eternity, her voice came through the speaker. “Hello?”

"Y/N," Sam blurted out, his voice filled with urgency. "Something's up with Dean" he told her, pacing around the room in agitation. There was a beat of shocked silence on the other end before Y/N spoke, her concern evident in her voice. "I knew it” She grumbled, gripping her steering wheel.

After Dean left the house when she broke the news of her pregnancy, Y/N didn’t shake the feeling of something being wrong as much as she wanted to. So after over an hour of it nagging her, she hopped into her truck and went all over town looking for him.

“Is he still at the house?” Y/N asked Sam quickly. "Uhhh…" Sam hummed as he peeled back the curtain. The Impala was still outside with Dean sitting in the driver’s side, seemingly lost in thought. “He’s still outside” Sam answered, still trying to wrap his head around what had just happened.

"But he was acting strange. He said something about owing money to a bookie and people's lives depending on it. I don't know what to make of it, Y/N" There was a short pause on the other end as Y/N absorbed this information. "That doesn't sound right at all,” she said, her voice filled with worry.

“Yeah, I know,” Sam agreed, his anxiety growing by the minute. "And then… he told me to tell you and mom that he's sorry and that he loves you" he relayed, his voice filled with a mix of confusion and concern. Y/N's heart sank at the mention of Dean's message, a knot forming in her throat. There was an undeniable feeling of dread in her gut.

Sam looked back out the window, his eyes falling on Dean who hadn’t shifted from his spot since earlier.

Her mind was racing, wondering if this was because of her unexpected pregnancy. So she tried her best to formulate a plan, even in this stressful time. “Okay, listen to me very clearly, Samuel. You go outside and keep him there for as long as possible. I’m on my way” Y/N instructed him sternly.

"Got it. I’ll keep him there," Sam assured her, his tone set with determination. “I’ll even pretend to be mad or something.” Y/N’s instructions were clear and concise, giving Sam a sense of purpose and a small hint of optimism, which he desperately needed at this moment.

-

Meanwhile, Dean was sitting in the Impala, lost in thought for God knows how long when suddenly his passenger side. Sam plopped into the front seat with a heavy sigh, causing Dean’s head to snap in his direction. “Get out the car,” Dean exclaimed sternly. “I’m going with you.” Sam insisted.

“You're just gonna slow me down." Dean growled. “Tough!” Sam sassed. "This is dangerous and you could get hurt!" Dean shouted. “Yeah. And so could you, Dean!” Sam shouted back. Dean was still trying to find a comeback when they suddenly heard the sound of screeching tires.

Their heads whipped around to see Y/N's truck coming to a stop a few yards back from the Impala. Y/N quickly jumped out and sprinted over to them. "What's going on?" Y/N asked breathlessly as she yanked the backdoor open, her wide eyes fixing on Dean with concern.

Dean was taken aback by her sudden appearance, feeling a mixture of relief and guilt seeing her there. "You shouldn't be here," he muttered, struggling against his own desire to reach out and hold her close.

"I don’t care. Sam told me everything. Whatever stupid thing you’re about to do, you’re not doing it alone. And that’s that," Y/N asserted firmly. Sam exchanged a knowing glance with her, silently impressed by her determination. Dean’s eyes narrowed as he looked at her, a mix of annoyance and affection.

He knew better than to argue with her once she had her mind set on something. Whether this was really her or not, he’s pretty sure every version of her would fight his stubbornness if she needed to.

His eyes glanced between Sam and Y/N with shock, he could understand why she would be so stubborn, but not Sam. If they weren’t close here, if Dean was so horrible that Sam wanted nothing to do with him, why would Sam stick his neck out for him?

“I don’t understand. Why are you doing this?” Dean asked Sam in confusion. He sighed deeply, tearing his eyes away to face the windshield. “Because you’re still my brother,” Sam muttered. A small smile tugged at Y/N’s lips as she placed a hand on her stomach.

The two words stung Dean, cutting deep into his heart. ‘Still my brother.' His eyes glanced down to Y/N's stomach as she subconsciously placed her hand on it. His heart thumped painfully in his chest, knowing that he would never get to experience that with her.

"Bitch." he smirked at the two, Sam’s brows furrowed in offense as Y/N smiled. “What are you calling me a bitch for?” Sam stuttered, Y/N let out a snort of amusement. “You’re supposed to say, ‘jerk’” Sam’s brows furrowed again. "What?” Sam muttered under his breath as Y/N snickered, Dean rolled his eyes before putting the Impala in drive.

“Nevermind” He huffed. Y/N placed her hand on his shoulder from the backseat, “Asshat” She shot at with a grin. Dean chuckled under his breath in amusement, his chest swelling with the familiarity, “Nutcase”

____________________________________________

Y/N was half asleep in the backseat, her hand resting right over her stomach, lazily tracing circles around the navel through her shirt. She tried to focus on getting a somewhat proper rest having been on the road for more than 12 hours. The hum of Baby’s engine was the only sound that echoed through their ears.

Dean’s eyes landed on Y/N through the rearview mirror, the painful ache in his chest resurfaced as he watched Y/N trace her navel, gently caressing her own stomach, almost as if she was comforting their unborn child before it was even in this world yet.

He wanted so badly to just reach over and do the same, he always knew she’d make a great mother, even if y/n wouldn’t admit it to herself. But he had to pull himself away from that nagging feeling. The voice at the back of his head that was begging him to be selfish for once. He had to focus. He had a mission.

“What’s in the bag?” Sam broke the silence, pointing to the brown paper bag laying next to Dean. Y/N cracked open one of her eyes, “Nothing” Dean huffed, focusing his gaze on the empty dark road. “Nothing?” Sam sassed, “Yeah, nothing” Dean snapped back. “Just open the damn bag, I don’t wanna hear any bickering” Y/N grumbled in annoyance.

Sam scoffed before picking up the back. “Fine” He said, “Fine” Y/N mocked back, earning a glare from him. “You don’t wanna do that” Dean snorted. “Oh, really?” Sam sassed again as he reached into the bag, pulling out a container of lamb’s blood. Y/N gasped theratically as Sam did this, his own eyes widening with shock.

“What the fuck is that?!” Y/N exclaimed, pushing herself up in the backseat. “Blood” Dean shrugged, both Sam and Y/N’s eyes twitched at him. “Yeah, we can see that it’s blood, Dean! What the hell is it doing here?!” Sam shouted. Dean’s smirk widened, “You guys really don’t wanna know” He snorted.

“No, we really do wanna know! We really really do wanna know!” Y/N yelled, crossing her arms over her chest. Dean sighed, shaking his head. “Yeah, well, y’all are gonna find out sooner or later” He sighed, “I needed a silver knife dipped in lamb’s blood” Dean explained casually.

The car fell silent, he craned his head to see Sam and Y/N staring back at him with wide eyes, jaws practically touching the floorboards. Dean had to hold back himself from laughing at their faces, the look they had was hysterical.

“You needed a silver knife dipped in lamb's blood, why!?” Sam exclaimed. “Because there’s this creature, a djinn, and I have to hunt it” Dean stated. Sam and Y/N’s faces dropped, “I let an insane man impregnate me” Y/N muttered to herself, her voice going up and octave as she threw herself back into the seat, looking around in disbelief.

“Okay…stop the car..” Sam began calmly, “I know how it sounds” Dean shot back. “Great. Just….stop the car” Sam tried again, y/n was still staring out the car in disbelief, her jaw hanging. “It’s the truth, guys. There are things out there in the dark. There are bad things. There are nightmare things” Dean insisted, Y/N’s eyes snapped over to him as he continued.

“People have to be saved, if we don’t save them, then nobody will,” Dean said determinedly. Sam and Y/N could feel their heads spinning, trying to make sense of what Dean was saying while still trying to process his previous statement about the silver knife. "You're telling us there's some monster out there you want to hunt?" Y/N asked disbelievingly. "Yeah" Dean said as if it was obvious.

"And you need a silver knife dipped in blood to do it?" She continued, her eyes never leaving his. "Uh-huh" Dean confirmed nonchalantly, his focus still on the road. Sam and Y/N shared a disheveled look. She decided she had had enough, pushing herself over from the backseat and into the middle of the two Winchester boys as Dean drove.

“You’ve gotta be losing it,” Y/N declared, her voice filled with a mix of frustration and disbelief. “And you can’t just go and hunt some ‘djinn’ that supposedly exists, you have no business getting yourself tangled up in something crazy like that!” She cried.

Dean shot her a quick side glance before returning his focus back on the road, “It’s not a ‘supposedly’ thing. These things are real” He stated matter-of-factly. Y/N shook her head in disbelief, her eyes wide, “You’re insane” she muttered.

“Look, man, we wanna help you, alright. We really do but you’re having some kind of psychotic breakdown so…” Sam chimed in, attempting to fish his phone out of his pocket. “I wish” Dean muttered. “Baby…” Y/N said to him tenderly. Dean’s hands tightened around the steering wheel at the soft tone, the nickname making his chest ache with yearning.

He briefly closed his eyes, trying to calm his racing thoughts. “Save the pet names…you don’t mean it like that” he huffed under his breath, opening his eyes as Sam dialed a number on his phone. Y/N physically flinched at his harsh tone as he rolled down the window and snatched Sam’s phone out of his hand before tossing it out of the window.

“What the fuck was that, Dean?! That was my phone!!” Sam exclaimed, whipping his head around in shock. Y/N’s mouth dropped, “You just threw his fucking phone out of the window!” She gasped. Dean ignored them both, his gaze fixated on the road ahead, “I’m not going to a rubber room Sammy and y/n/n, and we got work to do” Dean said calmly.

“We were just trying to help you out, Dean!” Sam shouted. “We don’t want you to get hurt!” Y/N added, tears brimming in her eyes. That made Dean know for sure this wasn’t his girl, because as much as she was a crybaby for sad movies and cute animal videos, she wasn’t so easy to break. “What, you two protect me?” Dean snorted in amusement.

“Yeah!” Sam and Y/N exclaimed in unison. “Oh, that’s hilarious” Dean chuckled sarcastically, turning back to face the road. “Why don’t you twojust sit tight and try not to get us all killed?” Dean demanded before turning on the radio. Lynyrd Skynyrd’s ‘Saturday Night Special’ began booming through the Impala’s deck again.

Sam and Y/N sat back in their seats, speechless after being chewed out by Dean. They exchanged a look before facing the windshield again, both of their minds swirling with thoughts as Dean’s music blared through the stereo. Y/N’s hands slid down to her stomach, gently caressing the skin where their unborn child was growing inside of her.

____________________________________________

The Impala pulled up to the familiar warehouse, Sam was passed out in the backseat, snoring rather heavily. After almost accidentally punching Y/N in his sleep, once again, she shunned Sam to the backseat, leaving an unconscious Y/N in the front seat. Her head was nestled in Dean’s lap, using his thighs as a makeshift pillow.

Dean’s hand moved down to Y/N’s hair, his fingers gently stroking the strands. The aching feeling in his chest increased every time he looked down at her sleeping form. His eyes scanned each detail on her face, the curve of her lips, everything.

It has been a long time since he had seen her look so peaceful, she seemed so relaxed and calm as she slept. It was a sharp contrast the way she usually was; stressed, anxious, worried and overthinking about everything.

Dean sighed heavily before fishing his flashlight from his jacket, shining it in both Sam and Y/N’s faces. A wide grin playing on his lips. Sam’s eyebrows crinkled together as the light shined in his face, his eyes fluttering open as he groaned. “Wha—” He muttered, confusion written all over his face. Y/N on the other hand, let out a loud whine.

Twisting in Dean’s lap to face his stomach before shoving her face into his shirt in order to block the bright light. “Rise and shine, sleeping beauty and sasquatch” Dean chuckled, shifting in the seat. Sam grumbled incoherently, rubbing the sleep out from his eyes. “Where are we?” He mumbled, still trying to wake himself up.

Y/N remained pressed against Dean’s stomach, trying to fall back into her semi-comprehensive state of sleep. “Well, we’re not in Kansas anymore,” Dean replied with a light chuckle. This made Y/N shoot up from her place in his lap. Dean chuckled again at her reaction, a smirk on his face as he turned off the flashlight.

She narrowed her eyes at him before glaring at Sam, who in turn, gave her a small sheepish smile. She huffed in annoyance before looking out the window. Y/N’s eyes flickered over to the warehouse, the air of the cold night wafted through the open windows, Dean’s body heat couldn’t keep her warm anymore. She shivered slightly, bringing her hands up to wrap her arms around herself.

“We’re in Illinois” Dean answered Sam’s previous question. “And you think something’s there?” Y/N’s voice was thick with sleep as she asked. “I know it is” Dean said firmly, his eyes narrowed at the building with determination. Sam and Y/N exchanged a nervous look before turning back to him.

-

The trio all held their own flashlights up, the abandoned warehouse/ruins Dean remembered he was attacked by the Djinn was exactly the way it was. Thunder clapped outside, bellowing through the dark hall as lightning filled the sky.

Dean led the way, his footsteps echoed through the abandoned hallway as they walked. Y/N stuck by his side while Sam followed behind them. She was starting to get a bad feeling, the warehouse was dark, cold and damp. So instinctively, she reached for her fiancé’s hand, interlocking their fingers together.

“See? There’s nothing here, Dean” Sam insisted. “Look, our parents are gonna be worried sick about us, babe. Come on, let’s just go” Y/N pleaded with Dean. Dean gritted his teeth, his grip on Y/N’s hand tightened slightly. “Shh” he hissed. Sam and Y/N exchanged another nervous look, stopping in their tracks when they heard the sounds of a girl crying. “What the fuck is that?” Sam gasped.

“Both of you, stay behind me and keep your mouths shut” Dean instructed them, his voice laced with authority as he let go of Y/N’s hand, using his body to cover her. His free hand instinctively went to shield her belly. They both nodded, falling behind him as he moved forward. The crying got louder with every step they took.

Sam and Y/N’s eyes went as wide as saucers when their eyes landed on the decomposing corpses of a man and a woman. The same ones Dean saw back at his ‘house’. Y/N brought a hand to her mouth, a sick churning in her stomach at the sight of the dead bodies. The urge to puke was poking at her as Dean kept his face stoic, the confirmation that none of this was real was creeping up on him and it devastated him.

“What the fuck?” Sam gasped again, swallowing thickly as Dean’s eyes flicked over to a young girl who was tied up by her wrists. She had a large gash in her throat, her skin looked dirty, as though she hadn’t bathed in months. But she still looked somewhat alive, his eyes piercing into Dean’s.

It was the girl that was haunting him. Dean moved closer to the girl as Y/N reached over to grip Sam’s shoulder, trying to hold up her balance. The urge to puke was growing stronger. “Dean, wait…” Y/N mumbled, her words almost incoherent with the bile threatening to rise up her throat. He didn’t listen, only moved forward.

The girl was staring back at him, her eyes bloodshot and dark. “Dean, don’t” Sam spoke up, watching the scene unfold. But Dean still didn’t listen, he went straight up to the girl, crouching down to her. She tilted her head to the side, as if to study him. “It’s her,” Dean gasped as the realization hit him.

It confused them how Dean knew this girl, but they still felt the need to help her. For Y/N, seeing the young girl in such a state brought out the maternal instincts she never knew she had. “Dean, what’s going on?” She asked urgently, attempting to reach over to untie the girl, along with Sam. But Dean stopped them, “Shhh” He hushed them when he heard footsteps.

Quickly and quietly, they all hid behind a large tank as the Djinn entered the room. The young girl was shaking as the heavily tattooed creature padded over to her, “Where’s my dad? I don’t know.” The young girl sobbed, her voice absolutely desperate and broke. The Djinn didn’t answer, he just inched towards the girl whose feet were hanging slightly off the ground.

“No. Don’t. No. Where’s my dad?” She pleaded weakly as she tried to shuffle away but it was no use. The djinn brought his hand up to her face, placing his fingertips to the sobbing girl’s face, “Sleep” He said, his fingers lighting a small glow of white before fully expanding into a large dark blue light. The girl shivered in his touch, “Sleep…” He said again, caressing her cheek.

The girl soon fell unconscious as the Djinn placed a sickening kiss on her cheek before unhooking the saline bag that was hanging on an IV stand. He then brought the bloodied thin clear hose to his mouth, ingesting her blood.

Y/N felt sick to her stomach, her throat closing up at the scene unfolding in front of her. She wanted to look away, but she couldn’t, it was like she was completely frozen, not able to move or break her view from the girl.

Sam wasn’t faring much better, a visible shiver shot through him at the sight. His head felt like it was spinning when the djinn started feeding off the girl, his eyes were wide and his mouth was slightly parted.

Dean, on the other hand, had never felt so angry. His body was tense and his jaw clenched.

Y/N couldn’t hold it back anymore, the bile in her throat built up and she immediately let chunks blew all over Sam’s shoes, causing the younger Winchester to gag in disgust as both the scene unfolding and the sight of the djinn drinking the girl’s blood.

“Agh, Jesus!” Sam hissed, lowly. But it seemed like the djinn didn’t notice, it’s back was turned and it was still in the middle of feeding. But Dean caught the sound of Sam’s gag and Y/N’s heaving, he shot the pair a glare and held his finger up to his lips, signaling them to stay quiet.

The djinn finally finished feeding, letting out a satisfied moan as it pulled the hose out of its mouth. A chilling smile crept across its lips as it left the room. “This is real? You’re not crazy?” Y/N began to hyperventilate along with Sam as she wiped her mouth, buckling over as a pain struck at her stomach.

“She didn’t know where she was. She thought she was with her father” Dean muttered, the wheels turning in his head. The boys then stepped out from behind the tank, moving closer to the girl. Sam held up a weak Y/N, his arm draping around her midsection as Dean clenched his fists.

“What if that’s what the Djinn does? It doesn’t grant you a wish. I just- it makes you think you has” Dean swallowed harshly. He was hoping that somehow, someway, it could’ve just been a super fucked up wish. And he could’ve fixed his relationships with his family. Finally get on F/N’s good side. Be a better brother, be a better fiancé….be a better father.

“Look man, that thing can come back, alright? And we need to get Y/N to a hospital, she’s weak” Sam pleaded with Dean as Y/N’s head tumbled on his shoulder. But Dean didn’t hear him, all he heard was a ringing in his ears, his head snapping to the other side of the room where a light shone over head.

Dean slowly stepped closer to the light, flashes of his own body hanging from a ceiling filled his vision. Causing the elder Winchester to choke on his own spit, his throat constricted as air refused to enter his lungs. “Dean, baby. Please” Y/N’s weak voice pleaded with him. “What if I’m like her?” Dean finally let himself say out loud. “What if I’m tied up in here some place? What if all this is in my head?”

Part of him knew, that voice nagging him at the back of his head knew. “I mean, it could, you know…maybe give us some kind of supernatural acid and then just feeds on us slow,” Dean muttered as he studied the girl’s face. Sam’s jaw dropped at Dean’s words, his brain going into overthinking mode, he was about to say something but stopped when he heard a low whimper come from Y/N.

Her head was heavy on his shoulder. “No, Dean, that doesn’t make sense, okay,” Sam gaped. Y/N’s weak eyes flickered to Dean once more, her breath was slightly ragged and labored from when she had puked. “Please” Y/N croaked, clinging onto Sam. Dean turned to face them.

“What if that’s why she keeps appearing to me? She’s not a spirit. It’s like more and more I’m catching reality flashes. You know? like I’m in here somewhere, I’m catatonic. I’m taking all this stuff in but I can’t snap out of it” Dean put the pieces together.

Y/N, weak as she was, peeled herself from Sam and forced herself to walk over to Dean, her legs were shaking and it was hard to keep herself standing upright But she reached out for him, her hand landing on his arm. “Dean” She gasped. “Look, you’re right. We were wrong, you’re not crazy. But please, we need to get out of here. Fast.” She pleaded, her words coming out thick and choked, trying not to puke again.

Y/N ran her hands up the back of his neck but it made Dean feel sick rather than safe. Dean narrowed his eyes at her, clenching his jaw before roughly pushing her off. Luckily, Sam caught her before she could hit the ground. Y/N and Sam both went wide-eyed at Dean’s sudden roughness. Y/N’s face crumbled, her expression filled with hurt as her eyes began to water. “Dean?” She whispered, her voice so fragile.

But Dean’s face was hard and emotionless, his eyes darkened as he stared back at her. “What the fuck man?! She’s pregnant!” Sam exclaimed as he carefully helped Y/N back onto her feet, his arms held protectively around her. “I don’t think you’re real” Dean gaped, feeling as though he had been shot in the heart. “I don’t think either of you are real.” Dean shook his head, slowly backing away from them.

Y/N let out a choked sob, her bottom lip quivered, the urge to keep herself together was getting weaker. Her head fell into her hand while Sam looked ready to punch some sense into his brother’s head.

He gritted his teeth before helping Y/N to lean on something before storming over to his brother, shaking his roughly. “Did you feeling that? You feel this? I’m real! Y/N is real and so is your goddamn baby! This is not an acid trip! We’re real and that thing is gonna come down here and kill us for real. Now please” Sam pleaded with Dean, his tone filled with desperation.

Dean’s face remained stoic, “There’s one way to be sure” He clenched his jaw before retracting the silver knife from his jacket pocket. He then raised the knife towards Sam. “Woah, Woah, woah, woah, woah, woah! Stop!” Sam cried, his hands shot up into the air, as if to surrender. Scuffling over to shield Y/N who was still clutching her stomach, writhing in pain. But Dean didn’t believe it for one second.

“Dean, what are you doing, man? What are you doing?” He pleaded with Dean, his eyes widened in panicked confusion. “It’s an old-wives tale. If you’re about to die in a dream, you wake up” Dean stated. Sam’s face fell, he knew exactly what Dean was going to do. “No, no, no, no. That’s crazy, alright?!” He protested. “Maybe” Dean shrugged.

Y/N’s head perked up, her eyes widened at Dean’s words as she finally understood what he was about to do. “Dean, no, don’t!” She shouted as Sam used his arm to stop her from approaching Dean. “You’re gonna kill yourself- Okay!” Sam exclaimed when he tried to apprehend Dean but he drew the knife on them in a warning manner. “Or I’m gonna wake up” Dean shot back.

“One or the other” Dean breathed heavily. “Look, this isn’t a dream, alright? We’re here, with you, now, and you are about to kill yourself, charming” Y/N pleaded with him, her voice sounding suddenly stronger. Dean narrowed his eyes at her, “No, I’m pretty sure” He growled, “Like….90 percent sure” He blinked before turning the knife on him, ready to stab himself.

“Wait!!” Sam bellowed. Dean’s head snapped over to the side when he saw the figure of two women, one in a white nightgown and the other in a black. Mary Winchester and M/N L/N approached Dean with sweet smiles on their faces. His heart dropped in his chest as he watched from all corners. Jess appeared, then F/N from another corner.

Y/N was suddenly healthy and well again, slowly walking up to Dean. “Why’d you have to keep digging? Why couldn’t you have left well enough alone?” She asked, her voice wasn’t sounding much like her own. “You were happy.” Sam added as Mary and M/N moved and began walking besides Y/N. “Put the knife down, honey” M/N said gently.

“Listen to her, Dean,” Mary added just as tenderly. Dean was frozen in place, his eyes wide, shifting from side to side as the women in this nightmare, his nightmare, advanced towards him. His heart was hammering in his chest, he looked like he was ready to have a panic attack. The knife loosened on his grip as he looked over to Y/N, his eyes wide like a frightened child.

This wasn’t real… this couldn’t be real. It’s not real.

“You’re not real” Dean’s lip trembled, tearing welling up in his eyes to say this to his mother and M/N, subconsciously tightening the knife in his grips. All three women frowned, “None of it is” He spat. His eyes glancing down to Y/N’s stomach, he felt as thought he had been shot, once again.

“It doesn’t matter. It’s still better than anything you had” Mary said encouragingly. “What?” Dean gasped. “It’s everything you want. We’re a family again” M/N added, offering Dean a small smile. “Let’s go home,” She urged him. “But I’ll die,” Dean’s voice broke.

“The djinn’ll drain the life outta me in a couple of days” He shook his head, part of him wanted to be selfish and take the offer but his conscience wouldn’t let him. “But I’m here with us, it’ll feel like years…” Y/N chimed in, taking Dean’s hand into hers to place it on her stomach. “…like a lifetime”

Dean’s breath hitched at Y/N’s words. He was torn between selfish temptation and morality, his mind was fighting with itself. The feeling of his child under his hand was so real and it was making him falter.

The tears began to fall down Dean’s pale cheeks, he looked absolutely heartbroken. He didn’t know what to do, the women around him had everything he ever wanted but it wasn’t real. None of it was real. His throat was tight, he could feel the bile rising from his stomach but he tried to hold it in.

Mary brought her hand up to caress Dean’s cheek and M/N took Dean’s free hand in his. “We promise. No more pain or fear.” Mary said sweetly as Dean nuzzled his cheek into her hand and tightened his grip on M/N’s hand. “Just love, comfort and safety” M/N added in an urging tone.

Dean’s eyes reopened, still trained on his palm that was resting on Y/N’s stomach. Both mothers stepped back, allowing Y/N to wrap her arms around Dean, running her fingers through the nape of his neck. “Dean. Stay with us. Let’s go home and get some rest” Y/N pleaded.

Dean’s eyes met with Y/N’s, staring into those gorgeous (e/c) irises that he’ll never get tired of looking into. She looked so beautiful, so healthy. It was too good to be true. The idea of her bearing his child, them being parents together, the idea of her actually loving him back was all too good to be true for Dean. His lip quivered as he reached to cup her cheek, caressing his thumb on her soft skin.

“You don’t have to worry about Sam anymore. You get to watch him live a full life” Jessica chimed in. Dean’s brows creased as his chest ached. Y/N leaned up to capture Dean’s lips into a gentle slow kiss. The kiss was long and tender, it felt so real, and it was making this so much more painful for Dean.

He could feel his heart breaking as tears continued to fall down his face, a strangled gasp escaped from him. But Y/N didn’t let go. Her arms were wrapped around his neck and his hand remained firm on her stomach. She pulled away for a breath, her bottom lip trembled as she leaned her forehead against his, “We can finally have a future together. Have our own family. I love you, charming” She whispered.

“Please” Y/N pleaded, the look of desperation in her eyes was enough to bring Dean to a puddle, it took all in him not to crack right there and give in. He stubbornly shook his head, “No you don’t….at least, not like that” Dean whispered back, his voice hoarse as he once again denied Y/N’s love for him.

A frown took over Y/N’s beautiful face, her eyes watering up as the words stung her. “Yes, I do” She insisted, her hands moving up to cup his face so he wouldn’t look away, to look her in the eye. “Dean, I do, I love you” Her voice was pleading, she wasn’t lying. The words were written all over her face, her heart was laying bare for him.

This wasn’t real… this couldn’t be real. It’s not real.

It was Sam’s turn, the younger Winchester stepped forward and Y/N released her loose grip on Dean. “Why is it our job to save everyone?” Sam asked in a calm voice. “Haven't we done enough?” He added, the look of despair on his brother’s face was extreme to the point where Sam was willing to do anything to keep Dean here.

“I’m begging you. Give me the knife” Sam begged him. Dean’s eyes trailed the room. They went to F/N, who was yet to say a word, but he had an encouraging look on his face. “Give him the knife, son” He finally said. Dean’s eyes then went to Jessica, before trailing over to Mary, M/N, Sam and finally Y/N. He gave her stomach one last look before leaning down to press a kiss to it.

Y/N’s lip curled into a small sad smile as he pressed a tender kiss to her stomach before drawing back to stare solemnly into her eyes. They were glossy with tears, she didn’t say anything, afraid that her voice would betray her. Dean’s eyes softened slightly as he stared down at the woman he loved.

His throat was as tight as it was before, but it felt more painful now. His heart ached, it hurt to say what he was going to say next. “I’m sorry, princess,” He murmured. With that, Dean reared the knife back before driving it into his stomach. A chorus of cries filled the room. “DEAN!” Sam and Y/N screamed.

Reality, 2007

Joliet, Illinois

“DEAN!” Sam and Y/N screamed when they stormed the ruined warehouse with Jo, guns blazing, all armed with silver knives dipped in lamb’s blood. Y/N’s stomach dropped, suppressing a scream when she saw Dean tied up from his wrists, a bag of his blood that was being drained was propped on an IV stand. He looked as pale as ever.

Y/N, Sam, and Jo advanced into the room further, eyes locked on Dean. She felt her stomach twist painfully as she took him in; bloody, bruised, pale. He was unconscious, most likely from the blood loss, he was too weak to lift his head.

“Dean” Y/N whispered, her voice shaky as her mind ran a mile a minute. Just staring at him was making her want to break down and cry. “Oh, God. Come on” Sam pleaded as he reholstered his gun and began shaking his brother.

“Dean, sweetie, please” Y/N begged, placing both her palms to his cheeks, gently tapping him as his eyes fluttered open. Jo reached down into Y/N’s boots to take out the butterfly knife she had stored there, flickering it open.

“Oh, Auntie Em. There’s no place like home” Dean moaned and groaned from the loss of blood. “Thank God, I thought we lost you for a second” Sam breathed out in relief, the pain clear in his voice. “Y’all almost did” Dean grunted, his face creasing with pain as Y/N yanked the IV needle from his neck.

“Come on, let’s get you down” Jo said quietly as she began to cut away at the ropes. Sam and Y/N held Dean up, not seeing the Djinn that appeared behind them. “Sam! Y/N!” Dean screamed, warning them. The sound of Dean’s voice, screaming their names, made the pair of them whip their heads around in horror.

The sight of the djinn made them both freeze for millisecond, stunned. The two instantly kicked into action, attacking the Djinn while Jo desperately tried to cut away quickly at the stubborn roping, bounding Dean’s wrists.

Both hunters tried to stab the Djinn with their knives but it was faster and stronger than them, it dodged their attack, gripping them by their wrists.

“Come on, hurry up!” Dean yelled at Jo, yanking at his wrists. “I’m trying!” Jo screamed back, quickening her pace, the two were horrified.

Y/N raised her foot, high kicking the Djinn across his face (thank you cheerleading) dazzling the creature. He backhanded Sam into a railing, the hunter went headfirst into it, also dazzled. The Djinn suddenly grabbed hold of Y/N’s throat, a gasp left her at the unexpected attack. It yanked her backwards, holding her in its grip.

Y/N struggled in his grip as he picked Sam up by his throat, attempting to squeeze the life force out of the two. Y/N reached her hand out in an attempt to summon her discarded knife on the ground with her mind but it was no use, the lack of air was causing her to grow light headed, her focus was minimal.

She was losing her touch as darkness slowly crept into vision, her eyelids grew heavier as she struggled to keep eye contact with Sam, who was equally as dizzy. She could see Sam flailing about, his lips moving but Y/N couldn’t hear him through the loud, continuous buzz that was ringing in her ears.

Suddenly, Dean and Jo appeared behind the Djinn, the younger huntress buried the knife in the Djinn’s spine. A sickening pierce echoed through the room as the Djinn groaned, gargling on his own blood. Her face contorted with anger as she twisted the knife for good measure.

They watched as the Djinn collapsed to the floor with a strangled moan, his grip loosening on the two, allowing both Sam and Y/N to break from his grip. Y/N let out a strangled cough, filling her lungs with oxygen and trying to regain her breath.

Dean turned his head to look at Y/N and Sam, who were both slumped against the flooring, both dazed. “Hey! You two okay?” He asked urgently, placing his hands on both their shoulders. “Yeah” Sam croaked, his voice hoarse when he swallowed. “Fine” Y/N nodded, reaching up to her neck to feel the aching skin where he gripped her.

Jo breathed out in relief as she crouched down to place her hand on Sam’s cheek. Sam winced as he leaned his cheek into Jo’s warm gentle touch on his face. The pair stared at each other for a moment, both glad the other was okay.

Sam was the first to break eye contact, he forced himself up from the floor, letting out a sigh, his legs felt like jelly. His eyes shifted over to Y/N, he extended his hand out to her, silently asking if she was okay. Y/N looked at him, letting out a shaky breath and nodded, taking his outstretched hand in hers.

Dean then suddenly remembered the girl from his dream, his head snapping behind him to see her tied up the same way he was. His face fell with instant sorrow when he saw her bound state, she was in a gown that was torn, her hair was messy and disheveled, her face was pale and lifeless.

Dean felt anger as he began to approach the girl, his legs stumbling as he attempted to stand up. His legs were still weak and wobbly from the Djinn venom. Dean brought his fingers up and pressed it to the side of her neck. His eyes widened when he felt the light thumping of a pulse, “She’s still alive, guys!” Dean exclaimed with relief as Jo reached up and cut the girl down and Dean retracted the IV needle from her neck.

Dean cradled the almost lifeless girl in his hands, “I got you. I got you. We’re gonna get you out of here, okay? I got you. I got you” Dean breathed out, even though weak, he held her up in his hands. Y/N smiled to herself as she watched Dean cradle the girl, his voice was soft and gentle as he murmured soft little reassurances to her.

Shushing her as if he was trying to soothe a child. She and Sam shared a concerned look however as Jo frowned. All fearful and unwilling to imagine what Dean went through in just a span of a few hours.

____________________________________________

Dean was sitting on his bed in the motel room, reading one of Y/N’s playboy magazine’s while Sam was on the phone with the hospital and Jo was lounging on Sam’s bed. Y/N was making a cup of tea for Dean, per her request, to bring his strength back up.

“Okay, uh, thank you so much for the update. Okay, bye” Sam said into the phone before hanging up. “That was the hospital. The girl’s been stabilized. Good chance she’s gonna pull through” Sam informed Dean, who just nodded in return. “That’s good,” Dean grunted. “Yeah” Sam sighed, settling in the bed next to Jo.

Y/N returned to Dean’s bed, handing him the cup of tea. “How about you? You alright?” She asked gently. “Yeah, I’m all right, thanks” Dean cleared his throat, unable to keep eye contact with her as he accepted the cup of tea. Sam, Jo and Y/N shared an unconvinced look.

“You should’ve seen it, guys. Our lives…” Dean sighed. “You were such a wussy” Dean shot at Sam jokingly, making the room erupt in chuckles. “You weren’t there man, sorry” He said to Jo. “No worries” Jo chuckled, shaking her head. Dean took a small sip of the warm tea, making sure to not burn himself.

“So we all didn’t get along then, huh?,” Sam asked. Dean’s brows raised suddenly, “Well- Nope” He replied bluntly, shaking his head. Y/N sat down next to him on the bed. “At all?” She asked, raising a suspicious brow. “Yeah nope” He chuckled dryly, lying through his pearly white teeth, taking another sip of the drink.

“Man, I couldn’t imagine us not getting along” Sam muttered, the look of disbelief on his face matched the other two. “I thought it was supposed to be this perfect fantasy” Y/N sighed, crossing one leg over another. “It wasn’t- It was just a wish” Dean cut her off, his eyes trained on his tea.

“Yeah, I wished for Mom and M/N to live. If they never died, F/N would’ve never told dad about hunting. And we all just never…uh…you know” Dean said sadly. The other three had frowns on their faces, feeling the pain they all could relate to in him. It was a hard life they led, full of loss and suffering, they all felt it.

“Well I’m glad we do” Sam said, “And I’m glad you dug yourself out Dean” Jo added, both meaning their heartfelt words. “Dean,” Y/N said quietly, placing her hand on his leg. “Most people wouldn’t have had the strength. They would’ve just stayed.” She assured him.

Dean lifted his gaze from the tea, meeting Y/N’s comforting eyes. “Yeah, well. Lucky me” He replied with a small dry smile, his eyes scanning her face. Dean’s eyes flickered over to Jo and Sam, both were staring at each other deeply. He cleared his throat, breaking the silence. “I gotta tell you though, Sammy. You had Jess, you were gonna give mom grandkids. And Y/N…your dad was alive and you were gonna get married to Xander” Dean lied.

Sam’s head snapped up, an uncomfortable look instantly appeared on his face. “Yeah,” He replied awkwardly, rubbing his face. This wasn’t exactly a topic he enjoyed talking about. A frown set on Jo’s face, she knew about what happened to Jess after Sam gave her a deep dive of his life and she did the same with him.

Y/N saw the frown appear Jo’s face, immediately coming to her defense. “Yeah, but, Dean, it wasn’t real. Nothing that happened in your head was real, nor will it ever be” Y/N told him gently. Dean paused for a minute, feeling as though he had been shot for a third time.

His heart was practically ripped from his chest at her words. Dean clenched his jaw, “I know….but I wanted to stay.” He confessed gruffly before gulping down a mouthful of tea. His eyes glanced down at Y/N’s stomach, memories of the Djinn’s world were still fresh in his head. “I wanted to stay so bad. I mean, ever since F/N and Dad….all I could- all I could think about is how much this job’s cost us”

“We have all lost so much..w-we have sacrificed so much” All three of them stared at Dean, surprised at his confession. “We know,” Y/N affirmed gently, her eyes staring at him with a mix of understanding and sadness. Sam nodded in agreement, the pain and suffering was something they all had. “But people are alive because of you. It’s worth it, Dean” Sam countered.

Dean scoffed, shaking his head. “It is, man. And- it’s not fair. And- you know- it hurts like hell” Jo chimed in, scoffing dryly. “But like Sam said, it’s worth it” She assured him. “And you’ve got us” Y/N reminded him softly. All three hunter’s eyes were on him, their faces were sincere.

Dean swallowed deeply, his eyes glanced back down at his tea. A small part of him wished he was still in the dream. Y/N nudged him gently, “Hey” She whispered, bringing up her pinky. “I pinky promise” She smiled softly.

A small smile cracked on the corner of his mouth, a small chuckle left his lips. Dean gently raised his hand and linked his pinky with hers. “There, you can’t break a pinky promise” She winked, earning a quiet chuckle from him.

____________________________________________

Authors Note: “yOu CaNt BrEaK a PiNkY pRoMiSe” oh sweet summer child, just you wait until the next episode💀 (as someone who takes pinky promises very seriously, I’m already in tears)

ANYWAYS, did I break your heart? Did I make things better? Or are you plotting my demise?😂😂😂

I hope everyone loves this one! Be sure to tell me what you loved or what you hated, I can’t wait to hear your feedback🥰

Thanks for reading and have an amazing day loves!

Taglist: @hjgdhghoe @rach5ive @tiggytaylor @star-yawnznn @quarterhorse19

@deangirl96 @bitchykittenconnoisseur @globetrotter28 @hobby27 @mrsjjkwinchester

@juwu-theliciosa @magiccliopleurodon @nesnejwritings @karrah89 @whattheduckisupkyle

@iloveyou2mia @thelittlelightinthedarkness @lmhf1 @littletomboy2 @zigzoggy

@hey-its-zoe @modiddys-blog @thvxr @tommysaxes @cookiemonstermusic258

Xoxo

[mind-empty-just-fictional-people]

The Art of Stealth

masterlist

summary: jason doesn’t seem to understand the art of sneaking into your dorm room quietly

pairing: jason teague x female reader

rating: R for language

word count: 0.9k

warnings: none really, language, bed sharing, jason being adorable, tooth rotting fluff

timeline: set before the show, so no real spoilers

author’s note: i looove this character so much and i really wish he was in more than 20 episodes :,,)

You and Jason started dating when you were Sophomores in High School. You were there for him each football game to cheer from the bleachers, and when he got accepted to Metropolis University you were both overjoyed. When you also got accepted, Jason was that much more excited about going to college.

Suddenly all the trips back to Smallville he’d been mapping out had no need to be taken and he could simply see you on campus.

Jason was part of a fraternity with his teammates, but you hadn’t joined a sorority. So, Jason would sneak into your dorm room. However, he wasn’t very good at the actual sneaking part.

**

A loud crash woke you up and you grabbed the baseball bat from under your bed. You were ready to whack the shadowy figure that had climbed through your window when you heard his voice.

“Hey, sweetheart,” Jason groaned. “God, you need to put some pillows under the window or something.”

“Jason? What the hell are you doing?”

“Visiting my girlfriend? So we can sleep in the same bed?” He stood up, a smile on his face. “What? It’s Saturday, everyone’s sleeping in and no one will notice I’m in here!”

“You’re adorable, but if you get caught in the girl’s wing you could get expelled!”

“You kidding? Who could expel this adorable face?” He was still smiling as you turned on your light and tossed the bat onto your bed.

“How do you look so cute right now? You just fell into my room!” you laughed a little.

“Awe you love me, don’t you?”

“I really do.” You got on your tiptoes and wrapped your arms around his neck, planting a kiss on his full lips. “So much.”

**

You were studying for an upcoming test when you heard a rushed knock at your door. You slowly got up from your chair and walked to the door, the knock continuing up until you opened the door.

“Oh my god, Jason!” you gasped and pulled him into the room quickly. “What the hell?”

“What?” he asked, furrowing his brows and smiling.

“It’s after nine and a weekday! You can’t be here! Did anyone see you? God damn it, Jason if I have to bribe the girl across the hall again I-” He cut you off by grabbing your face and kissing you. “Alright, you’re forgiven.”

“I think I’m getting better at this whole sneaking around thing, though,” he said, walking over to your bed and sitting down. “I’m like ninety-five percent sure no one saw me.” He leaned back and grinned before someone knocked on the door. You motioned for Jason to hide, so he rolled onto the floor.

You opened the door and were met with your smiling neighbor, “Hey Casey, wha- what’re you doing here?”

“I saw Jason come in here, Y/n,” she said flatly. She held out her hand with a smile. “C’mon, girl’s gotta eat!”

“This is so unfair! I see your girlfriend going into your room every night!” you said. You went to your dresser to grab five dollars.

“The perks of being a lesbian, Y/n!” Casey smirked when you handed her the money. “You should try it sometime.” You closed the door.

“Jason, you can come back out,” you told him before he slid out from under the bed.

“You know you’ve got like ten pairs of panties under here?” He smiled up at you from the carpet. You rolled your eyes and held out your hand which he took and used to heave himself off the floor. “Love you,” he said and kissed you.

“Next time I’m sneaking into your place,” you mumbled.

“Ooh no!” He shook his head. “House full of horny guys that might combust if they see you in your tiny pj’s? No thanks, sweetheart.”

“Well then, just slide five dollars under Casey’s door before knocking on mine tomorrow, okay?” you laughed.

**

“Good morning,” you mumbled, snuggling into Jason’s chest. Your eyes suddenly flew open. “Oh my god!”

“Shit,” Jason sighed.

“Shit is right! Hurry up and climb out the window!” you exclaimed, pulling the covers off of him and standing up. “I am not getting expelled just because you haven’t grasped the art of sneaking in and out of my bedroom!”

“Wouldn’t it be smarter to just act like I came here early in the morning?” he asked. He stood up and put his pants on from the night before. “If anyone asks, you can say you had to help me study?”

“Yeah, that makes sense.” You nodded a little, looking into his bright green eyes. You then shook your head, “Wait, no it doesn’t! Stop giving me that look that makes me do anything for you and just hurry out of here before someone sees you!”

He grinned, “You really are a sucker for this smile, aren’t you?”

“I really, really am so please get out of this room before I fold and jump back into bed with you!”

“I love you,” he said before he kissed you. He then put his shirt on, kissed you again, and climbed out the window. “See you in class, my love!” He peeked his head into your room and you kissed him one last time before he left for good and you closed the window.

“My love?” You scrunched up your face a little. “Who talks like that?” You laughed lightly then groaned to yourself, “god damn it, I love him so much!”

[zeeohoh]

A/N : Oh my gosh this is my first fic and I'm impulsively writing it so it isn't proof read or I might overthink it and not post it.

pleaseee give me prompts or recommendations, not limited to Spencer! Any member of the BAU, or Criminal Minds, I am only halfway through season 9 so no spoilers!

I'm currently on 09x15 of Criminal Minds, and this episode is directed by our very own Mr. Gibson.

"Do you wanna come upstairs?"

(Gn!reader) after a particularly exhaustive case that struck Spencer the hard way, reader tries to be there for him ( this isn't a romantic fic but is up for interpretation/ as you wish ;) ) .

I've been a part of the BAU for about seven months now, I transferred a little while after my time in the field under the SOC, but I had assisted them on multiple cases before and was familiar with most of the team so the transition wasn't hard. I was great friends with Penelope already because she'd help me on my cases sometimes if she had the time to spare, she would invite me to her movie nights and outings and from there on I befriended the others. I was good friends with everyone on the team except Spencer, we weren't on bad terms or anything, but things were rocky, I had no doubt that he trusted me as a team member. Perhaps he just needed more time to consider me as anything more than that.

Everyone slept soundly in the bau jet as we headed back for Quantico. The team had been in Wisconsin for the past 6 days trying to chase down an unsub that had been kidnapping teenagers and sending letters to their parents written in their blood. This case was mentally and physically draining. I was sitting next to Morgan, who was sound asleep with his headphones on, occasionally stirring in his sleep, uneasy, he had taken a couple of hits chasing the unsub with JJ. The unsub might've gotten away if it wasn't for Spencer literally throwing himself at the unsub to subdue him. He may not look(or be) the most physically fit person on the team, but over the years during his time working for the FBI, he'd been more than able to stand his ground.

I couldn't fall asleep on the flight back so I thought I might as well make some coffee, as I was preparing the pot, I glanced around the jet and locked eyes with a certain Curly haired genius with a book in his hand, he looked like he'd woken up not long ago, I held up the pot in my hand as a way of asking him if he'd like some and he simply nodded with a tight lipped smile. I grabbed both of our coffees and set his down on the table infront of him.

"Thank you, Y/N, I thought you'd be asleep"

"I was, but Morgan keeps stirring in his sleep, and that woke me up, what about you? What's keeping you up? I figured you'd crash the second we boarded the jet, you must be exhausted"

"My side hurts from earlier so I can't find a comfortable position to sleep in, I'm just waiting to be back in Quantico so I can hopefully rest at home"

"Do you want- uh- would you want to sit here instead? I know the plane lands in the next 20 minutes and we're already almost there but-"

"I'd like that, thank you, Dr. Reid"

"Spencer"

"What?"

"Call me Spencer, if you'd like, Reid feels too formal, like we're nothing more than co-workers" he almost whispered the last bit ,there was a hint of disappointment written all over his face.

Was he...upset that I didn't call him Spencer?

"Okay, Spencer, I am just used to calling you Reid, has a nice ring to it, and for the record, I don't consider you as just a guy I work with, you're more than that" I smiled at him. "You can go back to your book if you want, we don't have to talk or anything"

"Oh okay" he looked as if he wanted to say something else but decided against it and reached out for his book instead

We sat in silence as he went back to his book and I leaned back in my seat and shut my eyes, the silence wasn't awkward, the silence was comfortable.

After landing, everyone filed into the bullpen as Penelope greeted us all with warm hugs.

"Everyone take the weekend off, I'll see you on Monday, Morgan, Reid, take care and let me know if you need anything"

Reid headed to his desk to grab a few things and I stayed behind, waiting for him.

"You haven't left yet?" He questioned me as he approached the elevator

"I was just waiting for you, we take the same train home so I figured we could head back together"

"I'd really like that" Spencer smiled at me.

I don't just want to walk him to the station, I really want to walk him home, just for my peace of mind, I don't know why, I just do

"You just missed your stop" He asked me as the doors closed on what should've been the stop I got off on everyday. "Are you walking me home?"

"...Is it okay if I do that? I mean it's not that I'm worried that you can't get back on your own with you being hurt, it's just that for my peace of mind-"

You're rambling, Y/N, big time

"Y/N, it's okay, I really appreciate you doing that, it's very thoughtful of you" he cut me off

We walked towards his apartment building as we talked about our plans for the weekend, Reid decided to stay in this weekend and recover while I will probably be spending the next two days doing movie nights with Penelope or meeting up with JJ.

We came to a halt as he stopped infront of a building I presumed he lived at, I actually had no idea where he lived until this moment.

"Well, this is me"

"Okay, have a nice weekend,okay? If you need anything, please don't hesitate to call, I am serious, I live close by anyways"

"Would you like to- uh- Do you want to come upstairs?" Reid looked at me expectedly.

"I wouldn't want to intrude, besides you should definitely get some sleep, Reid- Spencer, you've had a long day"

"I have a strong cup of caffeine in my system, I'm tired, yes, but I'm nowhere near sleeping, we can order take out, my treat, besides, some company would be nice, your company would be nice, if you want to ofcourse, don't feel compelled to say yes"

"I'd like that, thank you, Spencer, but please don't hesitate to tell me if you change your mind and want to sleep instead or want to be left alone."

We headed up to his apartment and he set up an old Silent movie for us to watch, enjoying the takeout, we got so caught up in talking that I didn't even realize how late it had gotten, we were on our second movie before I heard the silent snoring and looked over to my side to see Spencer fast asleep,I finished the rest of the movie and got up from the couch to clear the table and throw away the take out boxes, I reached into his go-bag and took out a blanket he sometimes carried with him and placed it over him.

He looks so angelic when he sleeps, so peaceful

As if sensing me staring at him, his eyes fluttered open and embarrassment flushed his face as he realized he had fallen asleep while I was still over.

He turned his head and locked at the clock, 01:23

"How long was I out? I am so sorry , I had trouble sleeping the past few days and when it finally came to me it just had to be when you were here."

"Hey, don't worry, it's fine, really, you looked so peaceful sleeping that I didn't want to wake up, I'll be out of your hair now"

"It's late right now, Y/N, it isn't safe for you to go out alone ,not that I'm in any way hinting that you can't take care of yourself, you could throw Morgan over your shoulder if you really wanted to or Two Morgans for that matter but the point is, I don't want you to go-" he let out a sigh and looked down at his hands that rested on his lap. "If I asked you to stay, would you? I hadn't slept this well in a while and I'm sorry if that's weird but-"

I cut him off "point me to the bathroom, I have a fresh set of clothes in my go-bag that I can change into"

This man must have been more exhausted than I thought he was because he was asleep again as I stepped out of the bathroom, as I leaned down to wake him up to sleep on the bed instead, I glanced at my phone that had a new notification, from Spencer

Please take the bed, make yourself at home and turn off your alarms for the morning, Goodnight Y/N

P.s thank you for staying with me tonight, it means a lot"

I poured a glass of water and placed it on the table next to the couch, incase he wakes up thirsty and headed for the bedroom.

Goodnight Spencer, Sweet Dreams.

His bed was so comfortable that it wasn't long before I slipped into a blissful sleep.

[providing-leverage]

1x01 the Nigerian Job

the first scene really establishes who Nate is: hotel bar, he'll punch you for bringing up his son

The introduction flashback scenes are so good (Eliot's is so dramatic)

Parker lived in Kansas City as a kid??

20 pounds of crazy in a five pound bag

I don't understand how the vents at the top of roofs work

Basketball playoffs almost blowing the whole job

Why the sink in the hall????

"That's what I do." Hardison nodding appreciatively

Nate begging them to talk to him but later he won't be able to get them to shut up

All the plans! No plan M though

The boys turning their backs in the elevator despite Parker not caring if they see her change

Eliot's Boston accent when they get to the lobby

Nate pulling up in the car for their first getaway scene, which is paralleled in the season finale

"You're the only one who's ever played both sides" Eliot are you accusing him of betrayal or being bisexual

The way they all act in the hospital is very telling about who they are: Eliot cuffed to a chair instead of a bed and immediately noticing Nate's hatred of hospitals, Parker of course already freed herself, Hardison sitting cross legged on his bed and trying to talk Parker into getting him out too

"He tried to kill us" "More importantly, he didn't pay us"

"The hell's a Sophie?"

Yes I read MacBeth in school but I go an academic team question about it correct because of the MacBeth scene in this episode

Sophie is the embodiment of "you don't have to be good at your hobby to enjoy it"

The way her flashback scene is also Nate's

Nate cannot stop smiling when talking to Sophie

"Let's go break the law just one more time!"

Eleventy billion dollars

"I'm thinking Nigerians. Yeah, Nigerians will do nicely." Walks away without another word, establishing the running gag of him doing so

I just noticed that Nate is wearing his original headset still instead of Hardison's earbuds, unlike the rest of the crew

This episode also sets up the trend of the marks setting their own trap by calling the authorities themselves and being shocked when they get arrested instead

I always thought the young guy with Dubinich was his assistant or something but based on the meeting I think he's the head engineer? He looks like twenty years old?

The fact that they actually are Nigerians (when watching for the first time I was so confused where they got other grifters to help them out)

The FBI agent's face when Dubenich runs away is so exasperated

"Sir I can take your underpants" why is this agent my new favorite minor character (other than Liam and Connor of course)

The shredded paper raining down on the FBI agents + the crew doing their walk out

Their true goal being to just crash the stock (Hardison is so good at what he does)

"Somebody kiss this man so I don't have to"

Repeating their lines from the beginning but less convinced about forgetting each other this time

I am forever a fan of the overhead walkaway shot

Alternative revenue stream

"People like that, corporations like that, they have all the money. They have all the power and they use it to make people like you go away. Right now you're suffering under an enormous weight. We provide...Leverage."

[number1rizgukgakstan]

FANTASY HIGH JUNIOR YEAR EPISODE 18 LIVEBLOG

It's that time again! Spoilers below the cut!

The only CW being underage drinking + drug use is fascinating- I assume that means no one dies? At least, not like Buddy did.

I'm SO excited looking at that set it's so fucking cool. The crackling in the fake clouds? HOLY SHIT the modeling team went OFF I love their work.

I FORGOT JAWBONE'S THERE. AND SO IS EUGENIA. This is so insane I'm so excited.

"Airitime law" God I love you so much Zach you are SO FUNNY

The WHOLE school is here that's so funny. Does this mean the clubs Riz joined are going to come into play?? GERTIE??? GERTIE???? HEY GERTIE???

The divine domain idea is so fascinating but I would like to say- imagine worshiping a god named Porter. I'm crying laughing.

CURSED GOLD PIECE??? FUCK YEAH GO FOR IT FABIAN

RAGH IS HERE??? FUCK YEAH!

Okay we're getting the NPCS set up? Fuck yeah

FIG NO WHY ARE YOU WANDA CHILDA???? THATS SO FUNNY. Gerard Neigh I'm CRYING. I love Armor of Ayda and the Spirit Guardians.

VULTURE KING LIVER + TALON FOR FABIAN In BAD! BABY! MILK!

WHY IS GORGUG SWALLOWING THE HEART LIKE A PILL??? INSANE

EAT THE FEATHER??? FIG YOU DON"T HAVE TO EAT IT ITS JUST WHEN BROKEN [sobs]

"You're wearing an Orangutang mask and the skull of the Vulture King?"

"And I'm speaking Vulture.

"And you're speaking Vulture."

Adaine is so brilliant I love her.

K2 giving Kristen basically a whole extra turn is so funny. We love K2.

They have so many spells prepared I love it. Fabian's party sounds sick as hell. Even the Bad Baby milk sounds fun. Disgusting but fun.

I feel like using the NMK against Kristen is a bad idea but will have terrible consequences for Kristen, who's silly goofyness has been coming back to bite them. IDK we'll see

Fabian faking it till he makes it is SO FUNNY.

Baby and Baby Baby being here's so fucking funny. Let's go Baby and Baby Baby!

Fabian's HOUSE burning down would be devastating but maybe it'd make his mother come home

CANNONS!!! PUT BABY BABY ON THE CANNONS

They have to DO ELECTIONS and RUN THE PARTY WHILE FIGHTING??? BRENNAN LEE MULLIGAN THIS IS INSANE I LOVE IT SO MUCH.

Kristen and K2 helping Riz load the canon is so wholesome. They're such a great team

NOOOO FABIAN HAS THE PACMAN TATTOO [laughing crying] RIP

1/4th of the party voting in one turn is absurd. Fabian's charisma is INSANE i love this man and his conga line

Jawbone once again completely out of the loop and just going with it is great.

I now see why Sprak has his own art.

The music video idea was genuis. Emily Axford is such a quick thinker and her performance as Fig is top-knotch.

Oisin summoning dragons breaks my heart. NOOO you were so cool :( now Adaine has to Furious Fist Mega Punch you to death

This fight is honestly so fucking metal. The music video, Fabian killing a dragon singlehandidly, Riz murdering two with the canons, all the Dex saves, Gorgug's excellent driving, JAWBONE, the voting drive... honestly I'm so proud of the Bad Kids and how far they've come.

ANOTHER GORGUG NAT 20 HOLY SHIT! Zac's really fucking it up right now. 7d12 is absurd

Wanda Childa running the party is so insane and I love it. It's Emily Axford's world and we're just living in it.

Eugenia Shadow is amazing. Best NPC by far.

"Can I bring a vulture to give me the help action?" absurd request. brennan's face was brilliant. Again: ITS EMILY AXFORD'S WORLD AND WE'RE JUST LIVING IN IT.

The fight. Every moment was incredible. They really did slay those god damn dragons. No one had to make a single death save. The party was popping. Fig was constantly being the fucking COOLEST. Fabian telling Gorgug not to crash his parent's boat. Eugenia Shadow telling Riz he's the best student she's ever had. It was brilliant. Excellent.

"Sorry Oisin, shouldn't have been such a douchebag, we're gonna kill your grandma now" BRILLIANT. 10/10. I love it.

AS SOON AS SHE SAID DIVINE INTERVENTION I FUCKING CHEERED. K2 DIES TO SAVE THE WORLD BY SAYING "BLIMEY" NOT FUCKING CLICKBAIT.

Zac doing the dm bit is so funny.

K2 not knowing shit and pulling off a miracle is such pure Kristen its so fucking brilliant. THE UNCERTAINTY OF MAYBE BEING PREGNANT IS INSANE. I love Ally Beardsley.

Brennan's reaction to the pregnancy bit is so fucking funny. They broke this man's spirit in the funniest way possible.

"Haunted Wizard Clone Mini Golf Lightning Extravaganza" is the single funniest string of words imaginable. Brennan Lee Mulligan you are my favorite comedian ever.

"How much of this can we cut out, do you think?" Ally this is your bed, you have to lie in it, I'm so sorry. Funniest roll of all time.

WE ALMOST GOT THE GOLD TORNADO?? NOOOOOO.

Circling back, the flavor of Armor of Ayda is so cute. Ayda's protection is always over Fig no matter where she is.

THEY FUCKING DID IT GANG! Now for the penultimate battle! :]

The previews are making me go insane. RATGRINDERS FIGHT RATGRINDERS FIGHT RATGRINDERS FIGHT!

"I think I have to try" is making me so fucking excited. WHAT ARE YOU TRYING FIG????

LETS FUCKING GO! NEXT WEEK BABYYYYYY

[bobbydagen24]

a few more possible episode ideas for another show.

its Floyd's Birthday and the brothers are all excited to plan a big surprise party for him JD Bruce and Clay all excitedly decorate the place with stuff they know Floyd likes and talk about their personalised gifts for him.

meanwhile Branch's excited smile slowly fades as he realises he doesn't actually remember anything that Floyd liked or any of the other bros due to being too young when they left.

anyway long story short at Floyd's party after he acts grateful to the others for their gifts and ideas Branch gets embarrassed since he didn't even know where to start and he leaves the party.

Floyd goes after Branch to talk on their own and when Branch tells him what's up and that he somewhat feels like a stranger in his own family due to how young he was when they left.

so he doesn't really remember anything specific about them but Floyd light-heartedly lets him in on a secret that he actually doesn't like any of that stuff anymore.

he just didn't say anything cause he didn't wanna hurt his brothers feelings and ruin the moment when really he's just happy that he's celebrating this birthday with them all back together.

but the simple fact is the things his brothers are all remembering are from over 20+ years ago when he was a young teenager he's changed almost completely since then.

and so have the rest of them except for JD lol but with all the others they've all been slowly realising that they aren't the same people who they last saw when they were teenagers.

and there's been plenty of trial and error Branch just hasn't noticed it so their all fairly new to each other due to their time apart.

but that isn't ever gonna change unless they take the time to get to know each other in the present.

so they both agree to go back to the party and make more of an effort.

2. another one is where Branch ends up hearing maybe from these bird creatures he talks to where he kinda has a long wide communication network set up all in the name of safety of course.

and one of his Bird contacts tells him that they talked to another creature that witnessed Chef's death at the end of the first film.

since ya know the last time our main characters saw her she was tumbling down the hill with her butt stuck in the cooker while on fire so they didn't actually see her get eaten like we the audience did.

so they assumed she was likely still alive all this time up until now anyway the news of her confirmed death makes Branch go around the village in a very joyous mood.

singing for no reason handing out snacks to random people and just being very cheery Poppy tries to ask him if he wants to talk about anything but Branch says what would he want to talk about?

he's happier than he's ever been anyway Poppy tells his brothers behind his back that she's worried about him but they don't really see it and think he's just reasonably happy over finding out a crappy person got their just desserts.

anyway Branch goes even more over the top in his happy shenanigans saying they should all throw a big party in the village to celebrate with a giant banner reading

"" ding dong the witch is dead ""

anyway despite poppy being even more worried and all of the brothers actually starting to feel a little worried as well except for JD who thinks the parties a great idea. 😂😂😂😂

the big party goes ahead and Branch gets pretty wasted ( on sugar ) and gets up onto stage to make a big speech with Poppy very nervously trying to talk him down since he's clearly crashing.

but Branch after saying a few things that makes everyone uncomfortable stops and thinks to himself and then kinda takes a deep breath and speaks more from the heart.

he says that he spent practically all of his life afraid and hurt and even as he got better he always thought that certain things would fix him or make him feel more whole.

but despite Chef being dead and even despite them all being at peace with the Bergens now he still feels just as afraid as he used to and he still feels the pain he's lived with his whole life.

he thought knowing she was gone would kinda close the book on that part of his life and wrap it all up in a neat little bow and allow him to finally move on completely.

but he just felt the exact same as he always has done and he kinda went into denial over it trying to convince himself everything was better for him now.

3. this one was inspired by an idea j-ad1 had in the comments section of one of my Gary posts anyway the plot is that.

the Bros get annoyed/kinda wierded out by how Branch takes Gary with him everywhere and is constantly smugly chattering on and on about the things Gary can do to the point the Bros find it very annoying and also kinda weird.

so they take Gary in the middle of the night and maybe try to play it off as some kinda animal that broke into the Bunker and dragged him away or something.

their hoping that even if Branch will be a little annoyed at first he'll quickly get over it and kinda cure him of his weird obsession with an inanimate object.

only for Branch to begin an obsessive search for Gary to the point he becomes even more unhinged and eventually even breaks down over it which his bros didn't expect they just sorta thought he'd be a little annoyed that he was lost but then he'd get over it and move on.

so it actually surprises them to see him so genuinely upset over Gary's absence and maybe his brothers even ask why it means so much to him and he finally tells them about how Gary was what comforted him during the years he spent hiding away.

when he had no one else and he made him feel safe whenever he was afraid which knowing Branch was nearly every single day given how paranoid he was over the Bergens finding them.

and it made him feel like he did have some sorta family around him back when he had no one and that yeah he knows some people think its kinda weird.

despite his rep as the village's crazy person he isn't actually entirely oblivious to how it looks.

anyway to end the episode I'd have Bro zone realise they were wrong and they go to retrieve Gary from the place they Dumped him only to realise he actually has been taken by a pack of animals this time.

and they actually have to go to a bit of effort retrieving him from the pack of animals getting themselves a bit torn up in the process and in the end they give Gary back to Branch and he's so grateful that they got him back which makes the bros feel pretty bad.

and they fess up to what they did and apologise with maybe the episode ending on a bit of a comedic note of them promising to do whatever it takes to make it up to Branch.

and it ends with him making them do really hard chores around his Bunker while Gary watches on in a chair with a nice little drink to his side. 😂😂😂😂

[justletmeramble1701]

Has anyone talked about how each of the three specials represents the three eras if NuWho (as in the three showrunners)?

The Star Beast felt like a classic Russel T Davis era introduction. The doctor disrupts the companion's boring domestic life, introducing them to a new, exciting, and very dangerous life. While, yes, this is the story of most NuWho companions, but Russell's version focused on how boring mundanity is (his companions are thrill seekers, especially Rose and Donna) and the companion's familiar life, which this episode does with the reintroduction of the Noble's.

It also has a "Davis-ex-machina", but all three episodes have that, so I'm not gonna mention it.

Wild Blue Yonder felt like a Moffat idea box (a dark fairy tale/cosmic horror). High concept scares or ideas that force the Doctor to drop his mask and confront truths about himself. I'm specifically thinking of series 6, where The Doctor relearns responsibility by the strange and usually terrifying situations he falls into, dragging his companions along for the ride. In this story, the Doctor is reminded how beaten down they are, setting us up for the conclusion in the finally. It's basically this Doctor's "The God Complex"! While this is how the franchise does character development, it feels uniquely Moffat because of its horror influence (its "Alien" and "The Thing") and the level at which it explains itself (it explains as much as it needs to have a monster with a gimmick, but not too much that they stop being scary - and also in a way that confuses most people).

It also has seemingly innocuous lines that are actually horrifying in context. "My arms are too long..." feels so much like "Are you my mummy," "Don't blink," and "Who turned out the lights," but it lacks the ability to be repeated more than once, so it can't become the quote for the creature. Instead of a singular quote, the episode goes for a series of chilling one-liners ("Oh, we get hungry, don't we..." being a great example).

The Giggle had that late Chibnall charm. Bringing back past elements in highly action-packed finales or specials to attempt to excite or "wow" the audience. While it pulls things out of nowhere to keep the plot going, you don't care because of how much fun you are having! I was specifically thinking about "The Power of the Doctor" while watching it. Half a "Flux" worth of ideas crammed into an episode, but with just enough fun, character, and heart that you allow it to do whatever. Let the episode drive you in whichever direction it needs to go to reach the destination, trusting that it won't get lost or crash. While this is, basically, the concept of the show (remember, we are watching a walking deus ex machina in their magic plot generating box, waiving their magic wand around until it is time for them to solve the problem), it feels like Chibnall because of how compact it is. Like I said, this has enough ideas that it could have been all three specials.

The thing that sets these three specials apart from the last three eras is the power dynamic between the Doctor and their companion. 14 and Donna are equals. While Donna is being reintroduced to the extraordinary, 14 is being reintroduced to the mundane. While Donna is trying to escape from the lovecraftian creature they've encountered, the Doctor is right beside her, scared of what they shouldn't comprehend (the episode even punishing them for their comprehension). While Donna is being toyed with by a dark god, the laws of reality failing her, the Doctor is facing the same, at the wim of an entity that operates by a different set of rules. The Doctor and their companion, their friend, is finally operating on the same playing field as them, which means that, by extension, so are we.

Donna, like all companions, represents the audience, but, in these stories, she specifically represents the fans of the last 20 of Doctor Who. The ones that grew up watching NuWho. We are older now, still as loud and snarky as ever, but we are adults now. Just like Donna, we have lives, responsibilities. We can't experience the world (or the program) the way we once did. Even though the adventures never truly end, it is our turn to join the previous generation (reprented by Mel) watch the next batch of whovians discover this exciting universe for the first time, our Doctor by our side.

This was the best conclusion to NuWho that we could've hoped for!

[queen-of-writing-bad-things]

Henry Danger Reader Insert | Captain Man x Reader: SEASON 1

Episode 20: Dream Busters

~The Man Cave~

Schwoz and (y/n) were dashing around the Man Cave, trying to set up several machines at once. Ray had called them five minutes ago, alerting them that Henry was 'out of action', whatever that meant, and he was bringing him back to the headquarters as soon as possible. The worry in his voice made the two assistants rush to get everything ready as deep down, they could tell how concerned Ray was. He was protective of his vulnerable sidekick; they all were, and they'd be damned if they let him down in his hour of need.

Charlotte came crashing down in the elevator, (y/n) having called her fifteen minutes earlier. It wasn't the girl's day to work, but once the superhero duo came back, Captain Man would need all the help he could get to save Henry. (y/n) was tweaking the machine that would be used for Henry, as the dark-haired girl stumbled into the main room.

"Hey, Schwoz, (y/n), look! I made onion dip!" Charlotte smiled at them, excited to share her delicious creation. However, the situation was dire and the two engineers didn't have time to sit and dip.

"Not now Charlotte, sweetheart." (y/n) smiled at her as kindly as she could, but the stress was evident on her face. Ray hadn't given them many details, but there were enough to make her feel nauseous with fear. 

"There's no time for onion dip," Schwoz told the girl, helping the young woman adjust the chair in the middle of the room.

"Why not?" Charlotte asked, sensing that something was wrong.

"Something bad has happened." (y/n) told her, her hands feeling clammy and shakey. 'Damn my stupid nerves.' She thought, knowing that to do her job properly, she needed to remain calm.

"Aw, did Gooch fall in the toilet again?" The dark-haired girl sighed, not fully comprehending the gravity of what was going on.

"No, Gooch did not fall in the toilet again," Schwoz said in an annoyed tone. As if they'd be running around in a frenzy if Gooch was in the toilet again.

"Then what is--" Charlotte was interrupted as both tubes came down with a pale-faced Ray in the right one.

"Hey! Do you like onion dip?" The girl asked him in a friendly tone, but the superhero was too concerned with his sidekick to care.

"Wait a minute!" He stopped her question, watching as a sleeping Henry came down in the other tube. (y/n) felt her stomach drop at the sight of him in the deep sleep. Seeing it with her own eyes made everything feel real. Schwoz used his remote to raise the tube propping the boy up and Ray caught him in his arms. 

"Oh my god, how is he?" (y/n) said, taking a few steps forward to meet her best friend in the middle as he brought the kid to the chair.

"He's sound asleep!" Ray reported, his voice laced with concern.

"Oh no! Bring him! We have to hook him up to the thingy!" Schwoz lifted the headpiece on the machine and gestured for the larger man to put Henry down. Charlotte looked on in confused horror, not knowing what was wrong with her friend.

"What's wrong with Henry?" She asked as (y/n) and Schwoz strapped the boy to the chair and hooked him up to the device.

"We were trying to capture Dr Minyak," Ray said, biting his fingernails through his gloves when (y/n) brought up Henry's vital signs on the scanner.

"Dr Minyak broke out of prison?" Charlotte said in a shocked voice. She hadn't heard about the insane criminal being loose again.

"Yeah, two weeks ago." The older woman mentioned. She knew the status of pretty much every major criminal in and around Swellview since she had a lot of time on her hands and an obligation to be well-informed for Ray.

"And just as we were about to grab him, he blasted Henry with a dream beam." The man recounted what had happened only an hour prior. 

"A dream beam? What is--" Charlotte was perplexed with everything happening at that moment and Ray's interruptions weren't helping.

"There's no time for you to finish that question!" He snapped at her, making (y/n) frown as she looked at the screen.

"Raymond! Keep calm!" She told him sternly. Just because there was an emergency didn't mean he had to be rude.

"Sorry." He mumbled, trying to get his stress under control. 

"Schwoz, can you show us Henry's brain activity?" The woman asked the genius as Ray ran around the chair so he could see the screen.

"Yeah, hang on, I've got to change the input," Schwoz said and he started to flick through all the setups on the monitor.

"HDMI one, no, HDMI two, no." He looked through them at a painfully slow pace, which irritated the other adults.

"Oh my god," Ray muttered under his breath, as he put a hand on his friend's shoulder, comforting both of them.

"For the love of God, please hurry up!" (y/n) hissed, enjoying the warmth that his touch brought.

"Oh, there. That's Henry's brain." The little man finally found the right screen on HDMI three and they all looked at the information that was listed. 

"Okay, I will give anyone two dollars to tell me what's going on." Charlotte held up the bills, shaking them in front of the adults' faces so she could be clued in on Henry's situation.

"Henry got blasted with a dream beam, which put him into a deep sleep, like, really deep." (y/n) explained as simply as she could, knowing that she couldn't explain the science even if she tried. The girl nodded in understanding, so the older woman took the two dollars out of her hand, thinking that it was two more dollars in her pocket.

"Well, then let's wake him up," Charlotte said, but Ray shook his head.

"It's almost impossible to wake someone who's been dream beamed." He said, walking back over to Henry's side.

"Why?" Charlotte asked in concern.

"Show her, guys." He said as he raised the headpiece from the boy's face. (y/n) took out a pair of cymbals from a cabinet and started crashing them together next to Henry's ears. Not even a blink. Sighing, she put them down and let Schwoz take over.

"Wake up! Wake up! Wake up! Wake up!" The little man's slapped Henry across the face harshly several times, but the boy didn't even twitch. 

"Okay, okay, he needs his face!" (y/n) grabbed his hands and pushed them away from the boy. They turned to Charlotte who looked like she now understood how serious everything was.

"You see?" Schwoz shrugged his shoulders.

"Oh my god..." The teen stated, not believing that Henry hadn't woken up after having his face beat about.

"And as long as he's in this type of deep sleep...he'll have dreams," Ray said mysteriously, putting the scanner back down.

"Dreams?" They didn't sound too bad to Charlotte. Everyone dreams, so how bad can it be?

"Disturbing dreams." (y/n) clarified.

"Crazy dreams!" Schwoz growled into Charlotte's ear, making the girl jump.

"Oh, man." The teen looked at Henry with worry as the kid began to writhe in discomfort. 

"He must be having one right now." (y/n) said, seeing a change in his brain activity.

"I wonder what he's dreaming about." Charlotte wondered, wishing she could see inside Henry's mind.

"Watch the screen and you will see," Schwoz told her, making the girl gaze on the monitor with wonder. Henry's brain waves started going haywire as his dream commenced.

~

Henry strolled up to his locker in Swellview High School. So far, so normal. However, everything soon became weird as Jasper came running through the corridors, screaming for his friend. The blond boy turned away from his locker, intent on greeting Jasper, but to his bewilderment, the teen came trotting up to him in a snow-white wedding dress, complete with a veil and heels. 

The boy was panting and sweating, but he started to tell Henry about how he was late for his wedding and that he needed him to drive him to church. Henry questioned why he was dressed as a bride, but Jasper didn't answer him, he just peered over his shoulder in horror. When Henry asked what was wrong, the curly-haired boy just pointed and screamed at a dancing green woman behind him. As Henry looked at the dancer in confusion, Jasper grasped his bicep and pleaded with him to not let the girl stop his wedding. 

With his best friend running away, Kid Danger was left with the green woman, but then, Miss Shapen walked up to him. He tried to ask her about the green dancer, but she just scolded him for being in trouble over her cat not using the bathroom. Henry asked why that was his fault, but Miss Shapen was just spouting gobbledygook about George Clooney. Things got even weirder when his teacher's eyes were replaced with lips, which started to talk over one another. Miss Shapen and her lip-eyes began to laugh together, seriously freaking Henry out when they started singing too. 

~

"Look! His brain waves are going insane!" (y/n) pointed to the spiking levels on the monitor, grabbing everyone's attention.

"He must be having an insane dream," Ray said as Henry started convulsing again.

"Man...I sure picked the wrong day to make onion dip." Charlotte commented, making the adults look at her with irritated and baffled expressions.

"We don't have time for the dips!" Schwoz scolded her, causing the girl to raise her hands in surrender.

"Okay, let's not argue. Henry needs us, so Ray, go get changed, Schwoz, help me get Henry back into his normal clothes and Charlotte, get some chips for that dip." (y/n) instructed them, taking control of the situation. Shit needed to get done and she was going to be the one to facilitate it.

"Yes, ma'am!" They all saluted her jokingly and parted ways to get started on the tasks she gave them. Ray smiled to himself at how she asserted herself, loving how her confidence came out when needed.

~10 minutes later~

"All right, Henry's back into his normal clothes, what do we do now?" Ray asked her, as he finished wrapping some bandages around the kid's feet, as per (y/n)'s directions. She needed the piping to be secured around his feet so her plan could be carried out safely.

"We're gonna try something drastic." She said enigmatic tone.

"Oooh, what?" Charlotte asked her, seeing how she was letting her logic and intelligence guide her.

"Waking Henry up by giving him a massive dose of extreme coffee." She told her, turning around to see if Barista Schwoz was nearly ready with the super-caffeinated drink. 

"But I thought extreme coffee was illegal in America." The dark-haired teen gasped, not believing that they were going to use it on Henry.

"It is," Schwoz said. Drastic situations called for drastic measures.

"And for good reason. It has over 300 hundred times the caffeine of normal coffee." Ray stated, his focus on Charlotte giving (y/n) a second to glance at him and appreciate how well his shirt fit him. Like always, his biceps strained against the material, making them look huge.

"Okay. We're ready to pump the extreme coffee into Henry." Schwoz announced, snapping her attention away from Ray's muscly arms.

"Do it." The large man said, praying that it would wake Henry up.

"Are you sure about this?" Charlotte looked at (y/n), who was biting her thumb from her nerves.

"This is the safest option." She muttered, taking a few steps back so she could be at Ray's side. He slipped his hand into hers and their fingers intertwined into a tight hold.

"Let's hope this works," Ray said, crossing his fingers on his free hand.

"Yeah." Schwoz pressed the go button on the coffee machine and the deathly black liquid ran from the bottle, through the tubes and into Henry's body via his feet. 

"Hey, why are we injecting the coffee into his feet?" Charlotte asked, thinking that it was a weird place to use.

"Because the fastest way to get the coffee in is through intro-feetus injection," Ray replied, confusing both the girl and his best friend. That information was definitely wrong.

"Where do you learn this stuff?" The teen questioned him, seriously wondering what books and web pages he was reading.

"He doesn't, he just repeats what Schwoz and I say. Badly." (y/n) teased, squeezing Ray's hand as she smirked at him. He chuckled and let go of her hand in favour of wrapping an arm around her shoulders, bringing her closer to him.

"So, what is the real reason?" Charlotte asked, not letting how cute they looked affect her facial expressions.

"We can't use intravenous injection in his arm because the coffee would be absorbed too fast and it could give him a heart attack. Therefore, we're sending it in through his feet so the absorption is slower." (y/n) smiled at Charlotte who nodded in understanding at her simple, yet smart explanation. 

"Clever girl," Ray mumbled, pressing a fleeting kiss to the top of her head. (y/n) thanked her lucky stars that she wasn't the one hooked up to the machinery since she was sure her heart rate would be off the scale. She avoided eye contact with Charlotte as she knew the teenager would be staring at her with teasing eyes.

Henry began to shake more violently as the extreme coffee began to take effect. His friends looked at him as he moaned and groaned.

"Is Henry waking up?" Ray asked Schwoz, who checked the scanner's results.

"I don't think so." He sighed dejectedly. Ray put his hands on his head in frustration and (y/n) squished her face to his pec. They had been counting on this to work, so to hear the bad news was like a kick to the face.

"But the coffee does seem to be affecting Henry's dream." Schwoz saw the numbers on his screen shoot up and the boy shook like a leaf.

~

Henry was back in Swellview High, sprinting at full speed around the corridors (probably influenced by the massive inrush of caffeine). Oliver Pook was sat in the middle of the hallway in a shallow paddling pool, blowing bubbles as a yellow duck bobbed up and down in the pool. The green dancing girl from before was twirling and shaking her hips as a hyper Henry ran around Oliver's pool, laughing along with the boy. He danced with the woman before taking a leap across the pool and knocking a trash can over. His blood felt like it was on fire, making him do around fifty starjumps before running off again.

~

Having run out of ideas to try, the four friends awake in the Man Cave had sat down on the couch to think and eat Charlotte's dip. Taking a chip each, they scooped up the homemade condiment and tasted its sweet and tangy richness.

"I feel so bad for Henry," Schwoz told them in a sad voice, making them all look at the snoozing boy. 

"Yeah." Ray sighed, feeling guilty that he let his sidekick get hurt. Charlotte stood up and took a dipped chip over to her friend, hoping he might wake up to eat it. The adults looked at her dolefully, seeing how she was hurting like the rest of them. (y/n) hugged herself to Ray's body, seeking his warmth for comfort and support. The fruity smell of her shampoo calmed him like usual, and they sank into each other's embrace.

"Henry...wake up. I made my homemade onion dip." She waved the dip under the boy's nose but saw no response, so she looked to the adults in defeat. Schwoz moved up to sit on the back of the sofa and the best friends shifted so they could stay in each other's arms and watch Charlotte.

The girl smushed the chip against Henry's lips, wanting to see if her dip would be some sort of miracle cure and wake him up. 

"Please wake up." She begged the teen boy, just wanting her friend back. However, all she was doing was smearing onion dip across his lips. The sight of her so desperate made the adults' hearts ache.

Not being able to take. it anymore, (y/n) and Ray stood up and walked over to her. The woman put her hands gently on her shoulders, hoping she could offer her some consolation.

"Charlotte, sweetheart, all you're doing is giving him dip lipstick." She told her softly, as Ray put his hand over hers. 

"I know." The girl sighed, letting go of the potato snack, which then stuck to Henry's face. The three looked at the sidekick with depressed expressions, but then Schwoz jumped up with an idea.

"AAH!" He yelled, finally having his eureka moment. His shouting broke the silence in the Man Cave and startling his friends. Charlotte clutched her heart in panic as (y/n) wrapped her arms around Ray and he hugged her waist instinctively. 

"What, Schwoz?" He asked in an irritated voice, the sheepish woman removing herself from his person. Her cheeks flushed from both her reaction and how strong the man's arms were as they shielded her from any danger. Yikes, she had it bad.

"Maybe we cannot wake up Henry by doing things to him on the outside..." Schwoz started, the others listening intently.

"Yeah..."

"Right..."

"So...let's try to wake him up from inside his dream." The little dude theorised, the plan sounding plausible in his head.

"What?" Ray and Charlotte looked at him like he was crazy, but (y/n) could see where he was going with it.

"You mean, like, a shared conscious or something?" She knitted her eyebrows together in thought.

"Exactly." Schwoz smiled at her, knowing that she was smart, she just didn't have the confidence in herself to let it shine.

~

"But I don't understand what I'm supposed to do." Charlotte frowned, as the three adults strapped her into an identical chair to what Henry was in. It was all part of Schwoz's plan and it looked like it would be their last chance to save Kid Danger.

"We will explain," Schwoz spoke to her as the teen settled into her chair.

"All right, see, Henry is trapped in a dream state." The genius started, clarifying what she already knew.

"Right, I get that." Charlotte nodded.

"According to Schwoz's theory, we might be able to wake Henry up from inside his dream," Ray told her his understanding of the situation. 

"I don't get that." The girl said, looking at him all confused, but she was looking to the wrong person for answers. The superhero knew diddly squat.

"We're going to make you go to sleep like Henry. And then using this machine, we can connect your sleeping brain waves with Henry's." (y/n) put it into simple terms for her.

"And put you inside Henry's dream." Schwoz finished. The explanation made the whole thing seem easy, even though the little man was buzzing with nerves at how many things could go wrong.

"And you guys know for sure that this isn't dangerous?" Charlotte asked, feeling nervous that she was about to be in the same boat as Henry, who they were trying to save.

"Uhhhh, sure, sure." The men lied, making (y/n) roll her eyes. Trust them to instil her with false confidence.

"Then how come one of you guys don't transport yourselves into Henry's dream?" She saw straight through their bullshit. 

"I have a peanut allergy." Ray fibbed, avoiding (y/n)'s eyes when she folded her arms in annoyance. 'Peanut allergy, my butt.' She growled in her mind.

"I had some onion dip." Schwoz's answer was as equally pathetic as Ray's was. 

"(y/n/n), what's your excuse?" Charlotte sighed, thinking the woman had chickened out too.

"I don't have one. I was going to do it, but these two assholes won't let me." She glared at the men, not liking how they were letting a child do the dangerous work.

"Fair enough." Charlotte let it slide, imagining how Ray would have a bee in his bonnet if anything bad happened to his helper.

"Now, listen, Charlotte, when you're inside Henry's dream, you can't tell Henry that he's dreaming." Ray insisted firmly.

"Do not tell Henry that." Schwoz reiterated the point, stressing that it was vital that she maintained the false reality once she was asleep.

"Why not?" She asked, thinking that it would be the easiest way to get Henry awake.

"Because when you're inside someone's dream and you tell them that they're dreaming, it can go into brain shock." The superhero said, which was the only science-related thing he could add to the conversation. 

"His brain could go...boom!" (y/n) imitated how the boy's head would implode, shocking Charlotte at the dramatic consequence.

"Well, what about me? Could my brain explode?" Her eyes grew wide, thinking that her own personal safety was now at risk.

"Uhhh, no."

"What time is it?" Ray and Schwoz looked away from her, not knowing how to tell a girl that she could die.

"You'll be fine, Char." (y/n) reassured her, but the tightness of her smile gave Charlotte the impression that even she couldn't guarantee her safety.

"All right, well, what do I do when I'm inside his dream?" The adolescent girl asked. There must have been something she could do to help Henry once she was in his dream.

"Well, according to the internet...when a person is in a dream state, one of the most common ways to wake up is by experiencing pain." Ray read aloud from his PearPad and Schwoz agreed that it was a good place to start.

"I don't wanna hurt Henry," Charlotte stressed. Her friend had been through enough already.

"You won't be hurting him, the real Henry is right here. You'll only be hurting dream Henry." (y/n) said and the young woman pointed to the boy's body. 

"It won't be real." Schwoz soothed her worries.

"Okay, but how do I talk to you guys?" She asked, knowing that they couldn't talk to Henry in his dream.

"We're going to put Henry's whiz watch on your wrist," Ray told her, as (y/n) removed it from the kid's arm and transferred it to Charlotte's.

"So, if you fancy a chat while you're in Henry's dream, you use this." She smiled as she fastened the strap.

"You know, when I took this job, we did not talk about stuff like this," Charlotte said sarcastically, using her humour to break the tension.

"Welcome to my world. I was only supposed to stay here whilst I finished college, and look, I'm still here." (y/n) giggled, putting the younger girl at ease at how she was now stuck in Ray's employment. Not that she or he would have it any other way. It never really felt like a job anymore, not when they had each other.

"You'll be fine," Ray reassured her too, whilst simultaneously thanking the gods that his best friend stuck around even when she could have left for a safer and secure life.

"Well, I feel like I should get a bonus or something," Charlotte mumbled. Her paycheck didn't cover near-death experiences.

"Charlotte, if we don't wake Henry out of the dream state soon, he could be trapped in there forever." The superhero urged her, making her realise the importance of her mission.

"Okay, but before I go..." She said. If she was going to die, she wanted to die happy.

"Name it." (y/n) stated.

"One more chip and dip." Charlotte smiled, wanting to taste her great cooking one last time before she faced possible death. With an irritated face, Ray picked up the platter and let her scoop one last mouthful.

"Oooh, me too." (y/n) grinned cheekily, ignoring how moody Ray and Schwoz were being. Charlotte's dip was too good to resist.

"Okay. Let's get this going." The girl said with a full mouth, chewing and swallowing quickly as the scanner was put over her head. Ray let the chair fall back to she was lying down before looking at (y/n) with doubt written across his face.

"You really think this is gonna work?" He said to both her and Schwoz.

"I don't know." The genius mumbled as (y/n) groaned. They were such idiots sometimes.

"Doofus! Nitwit! She can hear you!" The young woman slapped them both on the head, irritated that they weren't doing Charlotte's nerves any favours.

"I heard that!" The girl yelled through the orange glass, proving (y/n)'s point.

"Sweet dreams, Charlotte. And remember, hurt Henry." Ray reminded her, plugging the cable into the scanner.

"It could be our only chance to wake him up," Schwoz added.

"We'll see you on the other side..." (y/n)'s words were the last thing Charlotte heard as she was plunged into the dream state.

~In the dream~

Charlotte screamed as she felt herself falling through the air. Her eyes shot open as she landed roughly on the floor of Henry's living room. Henry was looking around, wondering where the noise was coming from, not noticing his friend until she stood up. 

"Hey." Charlotte greeted him, realising that she must have successfully entered his dream.

"Wha--wh--Charlotte. How'd you get here?" Henry stuttered, feeling on edge from all the freaky things that were happening around his house.

"Uhhhh..." How do you explain that your boss sent you to hurt your friend until he woke up from a dream induced by a supervillain?

"Oh, I don't care." Henry was too relieved to see another normal person to need an explanation and he gave his friend a big hug.

"Good." Charlotte breathed a sigh of relief. That was one problem she didn't have to worry about.

"I'm just glad to see you." He smiled at her, happy that he wasn't alone in the craziness anymore.

"Why? Anything strange going on?" The girl feigned ignorance.

"Everything. I had the weirdest day at school. And then I come home and it's even weirder here." He told her, the stress of his day in the dream creeping him out.

"What's so weird?" Charlotte inquired, ready to see what 'crazy dreams' really meant.

"Well, for one thing, my parents. For some reason, they look and sound different. Like Kim and Kanye." Henry pointed to Mrs and Mrs Hart in the kitchen, only it was Jake and Kris, it was literally two Kim and Kanye lookalikes. 

"Hi, Charlotte." Kim/Mom said to her, as the girl's mouth dropped in shock.

"I'm a genius!" Kanye/Dad stated, imitating the Kanye in real life. 

"Cool," Charlotte said slowly, sensing that things were about to get weirder.

"Why do my parents look and sound like Kim and Kanye?" Henry asked, shaking his friend in desperation.

"Do they? I didn't notice." She said, trying to keep up the façade that everything was fine.

"Well, maybe you'll notice that Piper has a beard, and she's playing the lute." Henry gestured to his little sister, who looked like a wise old music player. Definitely strange.

"I gave my love a chicken that had no face." She sang, strumming her instrument's strings softly.

"Why is she singing that?" Henry shook Charlotte's shoulders again.

"I really--" Her answer was cut off as the teen panicked.

"All chickens have faces!" He shouted.

"So, maybe---" Charlotte was struggling to keep him calm.

"Oh, and did you see Jasper?" He pointed to the boy standing behind her, and to her surprise and horror, his head was floating next to his body. 

"Henry, will you please help me get back on my body? Hey! Come back! I thought we were a team!" Jasper's body ran off up the stairs and his shouting head floated after him. 

"Did you see that? I feel like I'm in some weird, freaky dream." Henry told his friend, making Charlotte panic. She couldn't have him thinking that, his brain could explode!

"You're not!" She grabbed his shirt and pulled him close to her, trying to convey her stress.

"Huh?" He couldn't understand why she was being so weird too.

"You're not having a dream!" She reiterated, but Henry still wasn't convinced.

"Then how do you explain that?!" Henry pointed to the couch and this was the weirdest thing so far. Charlotte's eye nearly fell out of her head when she saw Ray and (y/n) cuddling up on the couch. However, it wasn't like their normal, cutesy snuggling where they couldn't be part without missing each other, this was something else.

"Oh. My. God." Charlotte said, as she watched the two rub noses and shared a gentle kiss. They smiled against each other's lips and if she didn't know that this wasn't real, Charlotte would be on the floor from fainting. It was strange to see them acting on their feelings, but it also felt right, and the teens watched as (y/n) slid into her "boyfriend's" lap so she could be as close to him as possible as they kissed. Ray looked at her with so much love, his eyes crinkling with happiness. It was such a shame that this wasn't real.

"That's not normal!" Henry yelled, knowing that Ray was nowhere near ready to confess to (y/n).

"Just go upstairs and try to put Jasper's head back on his body and I'll deal with the lovebirds," Charlotte instructed him, standing in front of the two so they were out of his line of sight.

"Okay. That makes sense." Henry felt a sense of familiarity from his friend's logic, so he did as she said. He ran up the stairs, intent on sorting out his best friend's predicament.

"I don't know what you think you're doing, but it's not natural!" He yelled, mentally preparing himself for what was about to happen. Taking her chance of being alone, Charlotte ran to the porch and flipped the whiz watch open. Time to see if it would work.

"Ray?" She asked, and the large man appeared over her wrist.

"Charlotte! Did you find Henry?" He asked, getting straight down to business.

"Yeah. I'm inside of his dream." She told him, intriguing the man.

"Oooh, what's it like?" He inquired.

"Weird." She replied, thinking back to Kim, Kanye, Jasper, Piper, Dream Ray and Dream (y/n).

"Well, how weird?" He inquired further, but Charlotte couldn't tell him about him and (y/n), he would really freak out if she heard.

"You really need a number?" She looked at him with a 'for real?' expression.

"Yes. From one to ten." Ray insisted. 

"Hang on let me check." Charlotte closed the watch and looked back inside the house. If he wanted a figure, then she was going to give an accurate one. She saw Kim and Kanye spinning around the kitchen with fruit in their hands, Piper combing and talking to her beard, Ray and (y/n) making out on the couch and Henry chasing Jasper's head. Yeah. Definitely weird.

"52." She reported once she was back outside. The whole dream was starting to creep her out too.

"Ray...just tell me what to do so (y/n) and Schwoz can wake me up and bring me back home," Charlotte stressed, knowing that the longer she stayed there, the more likely it was that she'd be stuck there, forever.

"Okay, first, you gotta remember the world you're in with Henry is not real. You're just in a crazy, weird dream state." He reminded her.

"Yeah, no kidding." Charlotte's eye's bugged out of her head as she looked to her right and saw that Jasper's head was floating next to her. 

"Hey, who are you talking to?" The head asked, making the girl swat her hand at him.

"Get out of here, Jasper's head!" She shouted, the thing spooking her.

"Charlotte!" Ray yelled to get her attention again as Jasper's head whistled and floated off.

"Yeah, I'm back, what?" The teen refocused on the task at hand.

"You got to go hurt Henry." Ray urged her. Time was running out.

"But I---" She hated the thought of hurting her friend, even if it wasn't real.

"It's okay. You're in a dream. Nothing is real. There's nothing to get hung about. Now, go hurt Henry and hopefully, that'll wake him up." Ray emphasised that everything would be fine.

"All right, but you, Schwoz and (y/n) better not be eating my onion dip without me." She warned him sternly, wanting to wake up to her delicious sauce.

"We're not. Now, you know what to do." Ray shrugged off the accusation, what Charlotte didn't know wouldn't hurt her.

"Right." The girl snapped the watch shut and ran back into the house, thinking of all the ways she could hurt Henry.

~Outside of the dream~

Ray turned away from the monitor that he used to talk to Charlotte and joined Schwoz and (y/n) in eating the girl's dip. Scooping up some of the creaminess on a chip, Ray groaned in delight at the taste.

"Charlotte will kill us if she finds out we ate her dip.." Schwoz said, rapidly dunking another chip.

"Eh, what she doesn't know won't hurt her." (y/n) commented, loving the dip too much to stop filling her face.

~Back in the dream~

Back in the house, Charlotte looked across the living and saw that things were still crazy. Mom/Kim and Dad/Kanye were sharing earphones in the kitchen and Piper was playing a crappy romantic melody on the lute for Ray and (y/n) as the woman laid her head in his lap and lovingly smiled up at him. He giggled at her silly mood and bent down to give her an Eskimo kiss.

"Hey, Piper! Hi, lovebugs!" She called to the people on the couch as she ran past.

"There's a river of glue and apple juice, too." Piper looked at Charlotte and spouted the nonsense.

"I love you, Ray-Ray." (y/n) giggled, cupping her 'boyfriend's face in her hands.

"I love you too, sweetie pie." Ray cooed back, the sight of them being borderline disgusting. It was cute and the girl had been gunning for them to get together for ages, but they cuddled and snuggled like there was no one else in the room.

"Okay..." Charlotte didn't know how to respond to Piper or the couple, so she just ignored them and grabbed a banana from the fruit bowl. She ran up the stairs as Piper played her lute again, peeling the yellow fruit as she went. Placing the skin at the top of the stairs, she descended again and called for Henry. Her plan for pain was in motion. 

"Henry!" She yelled at the top of her voice.

"What?" The boy shouted back from his room.

"Henry, come quick! Hurry!" She bellowed, hoping that her urgent tone would make him move faster and not see the banana peel.

"Charlotte, here I come!! What's wr---" The teenager dashed to the top of the stairs thinking that was some kind of emergency. In his haste, he failed to notice the trap that his friend had laid for him, resulting in the boy tumbling headfirst down the stairs. He rolled all the way down, grunting as he went. Piper's music was still playing as fell and the lovers on the couch didn't even break eye contact.

Charlotte rushed to see if he was okay, praying that his pain would be enough to wake him up. 

"Hi." She greeted him meekly, her plan obviously failing.

"What just happened?" Henry blinked, his entire body aching from the fall.

"You fell down the stairs," Charlotte told him, helping the boy to his feet.

"Oh." 

"Did it hurt?" The girl asked hopefully.

"Yeah, a lot," Henry replied as his friend supported his wobbly legs. 

"Cool, wait here." The girl dropped him back on the floor and rushed to the porch to tell Ray the development. It seemed like they'd need a new strategy.

"Ray!" She said at her whiz watch, the man appearing once again.

"Hi. Did you hurt Henry?" He asked, wondering if his idea was working. 

"Oh, yeah. Is he waking up?" She replied, expecting to see some change or sign on the machines.

"Is he waking up?" Ray turned around in real life, looking at Schwoz and (y/n) as they checked the results.

"No, he's still sleeping," Schwoz said, watching as Henry kept shaking, probably his body reacting from the pain in his dream. 

"Pain isn't working!" (y/n) added, noticing that the brainwaves on the scanner were being affected, but not changed.

"Dang it!" Ray muttered, his frustration worrying Charlotte.

"What?" She asked in a concerned voice.

"Stand by. We're gonna bring you back to reality." Ray told her despondently, knowing that for the moment, there was nothing more Charlotte could do in the dream.

"Okay." Charlotte prepared herself, closing the whiz watch and tensing her muscles in anticipation. Henry opened the door and stepped out onto the porch, wondering why Charlotte was out there alone. 

"Charlotte, I can't get Jasper's---" He was cut off by a bright flash of light as Charlotte was sucked back to the real world.

"Today, that does not surprise me." He said, the sight of his friend vanishing not freaking him out since he had been through some serious crap already. 

~Back in real life~

"Charlotte? Charlotte!" (y/n) shook the girl slightly as Ray and Schwoz lifted the scanner from her face.

"What...What happened?" She asked in a drowsy voice, sitting up and blinking when the harsh lights strained her eyes.

"Bad news. Henry's still trapped in a dream state." Ray said bleakly. Charlotte peered through the gap between (y/n) and Schwoz and saw her friend still trapped in his sleep.

"Aw, man." She sighed, thinking her effort had gone to waste.

"And more bad news," Schwoz added.

"What?" Charlotte wasn't sure if she could take any more problems.

"We ate all your onion dip." The genius admitted, making (y/n) groan. She knew he had a guilty conscience, but she was hoping she would be able to get away with it.

"Oh, no!" The girl squealed, her chances of tasting her dip again gone until she made the next batch. 

~

They had all been wracking their brains for the last half an hour, trying to think of a solution to help Henry. Ray was scrolling through his PearPad, (y/n) on her PearPhone. Charlotte had taken the seat at the supercomputer, scanning the same websites as them in hope that they'd find something useful. Schwoz was typing away on his tablet, but so far they'd found nada, zilch, nothing.

"Hey, hey! Here's something that might wake Henry up!" Charlotte gasped as she came across some information that appeared to be promising.

"Sweet cheese, yes!" (y/n) swiftly tucked her phone in her pocket and ran over to the computer with Ray and Schwoz hot on her heels.

"What you got?" The larger man stood behind (y/n) and looked at the screen.

"Okay, this website says "Sometimes when a person is stuck in a deep dream state, you can stop the dreams by submerging the person underwater for between 30 and 45 minutes."" Charlotte turned around to look at them, the grin on her face indicating that she hadn't thought about the implications of what she had just said.

"Did it mention any side effects?" Ray smiled at her sarcastically as his best friend let her head loll back onto his chest.

"Lemme check. Scrolling down...okay...uh...Here we go, side effects. "Number one, death."" Charlotte happy tone soon turned sour when she realised that the website was useless.

"Okay, let's not try that." She said, leaning back in her chair from frustration.

"Yeah, that creates a whole 'nother problem." (y/n) said, taking her phone out again so she could continue her search. 

"Guys...what are we gonna do? What if we can never wake Henry up and he's stuck in a dream state forever?" Ray said in a brokenhearted voice, strolling to Henry's side. (y/n) followed behind him, hugging the large man from behind.

"We're not gonna give up." She said firmly against the material of his shirt, refusing to leave Henry to die.

"But we've tried everything," Ray replied quietly as she squeezed her smaller frame to his huge one. 

"There has to be something we can do." The young woman said, enjoying how his back muscles rolled and flexed against her body.

"AHOY! Schwoz's loud cry of joy broke through their sadness, confusing them into what had him raising his PearPad into the air.

"What?" Charlotte asked, his sudden outburst puzzling her.

"Why'd you say ahoy?" Ray asked, turning around with (y/n) so they could see what Schwoz was doing. 

"Listen to what I just found on an ancient Hindu website." The little man gestured to his PearPad and they all crowded around it.

"What's it say?" Charlotte asked, squinting at the small text on the screen.

"Come on, Schwoz, spill the beans." (y/n) added, hating the suspense.

"The most effective method of shocking a sleeping person out of a deep dream state is...fright!" Schwoz read aloud, but his funny accent was hard for the others to understand.

"Flight?" She repeated, her eyebrows furrowing.

"Okay, so we just need to book Henry a flight somewhere," Ray stated, snapping his fingers.

"He's always wanted to go to Florida." (y/n) added, remembering how Henry ranted to her about going to Disneyworld.

"Perfect! Henry, you're going to Florida." Ray told the boy, even though he couldn't hear him. Schwoz groaned at how carried away they were getting.

"I not say 'flight', I frrrright. Fright. Like, ooga, ooga, booga, booga, ooga." The little man waved his arms around and growled at them so they'd understand what he meant.

"Oh, fright," Charlotte said, finally getting what he was trying to say.

"Yes, yes, we must put Charlotte back into Henry's dream," Schwoz said, pointing to the chair that sent the teen girl to sleep.

"And she needs to scare him?" Ray asked, confused as to how that would wake his sidekick up.

"That makes sense. Like when I have those nightmares with the clowns that scare the shit out of me and I have to sleep with you when I wake up." (y/n) explained to him, thinking back to the nights when Ray held her close and chased away all her bad dreams. 

"She needs to terrify him. You got to scare the poof out of him." Schwoz said, pondering over just how many nights the woman had spent in Ray's bed. How they weren't together baffled him.

"Poof?" Again, Schwoz's accent stopped the others from understanding him.

"Okay, when you say poof--" Ray wasn't sure what Schwoz meant, knowing that in some circumstances, the word was offensive.

"You know what I mean!" Schwoz snapped, not wanting to repeat himself again.

"Wait. I'm not very good at scaring people." Charlotte admitted. She couldn't remember how many of her pranks had failed because she just couldn't get anyone to be frightened by her.

"I can help you with that." (y/n) smirked, knowing just the thing that would do the trick...

~

"This is what we're going to use to scare Henry shitless." (y/n) told the girl, gesturing to a green, misshapen egg thing in Schwoz's hands. Even Ray looked confused at what it was.

"Looks like something my Uncle Rosco coughed up," Charlotte commented, looking over the lumpy thing. 

"You hear what she say about my bloob?" Schwoz looked at Ray, getting all defensive about his creation.

"It does look like a loogie," Ray said, agreeing with his female employee that it looked like phlegm or something. (y/n) giggled at the word 'loogie' and smiled up at him. 

"Just...How does that thing help me scare Henry?" Charlotte asked.

"All right, here's the plan. We're gonna send you back into Henry's dream." Ray started, pulling down the orange scanner as his assistants helped the girl into the sleep chair.

"Okay." 'So far, so good.' Charlotte thought.

"And when you get there, put Schwoz's abomination into the refrigerator." (y/n) said, watching as the genius passed his green egg thing to the teen.

"It's a bloob!" He protested, feeling protective over it.

"It's an abomination. Anyway, after ten seconds, you get Henry to open the fridge." Ray carried on. His agreement with his helper made Schwoz grumble and sulk.

"I don't think Henry's gonna be that scared when he sees this blob," Charlotte said. The thing was weird, but not scary, not in the least.

"Bloob!" Schwoz corrected her, not having another person insult the blob/bloob thing.

"Just trust us." Ray contributed, knowing that two of the smartest people in Swellview were helping her.

Wait. What's going to happen when Henry opens the door to the fridge?" Charlotte asked, sensing that the bloob was more than what it seemed.

"Henry will get the bejesus scared out of him. Oh, and look away." (y/n) said, patting her arm reassuringly.

"Look away," Ray repeated, knowing that if it was one of Schwoz's mutated creations, it was bound to be terrifying. They shut the scanner and reclined the chair as Schwoz turned up the power and sent Charlotte back into the dream to finish her mission.

~In the dream~

Charlotte fell back into the Hart's house, landing behind the kitchen counter. Piper was still strumming happily on her lute, and (y/n) was laid on top of Ray, him stroking his hand through her hair lazily. Getting to her feet, Charlotte looked around for the green thing.

"Wait, where's the blob?" She said, looking around for it, but when she looked up, the thing fell on her face like a pancake. The girl flung the bloob from her face onto the floor, where it inflated into its spherical shape again. Shaking off her disgust, she picked it up and dashed over to the refrigerator, shutting the thing inside.

"Okay, put the bloob in the fridge and wait ten seconds." She mumbled to herself before running to the foot of the stairs to call for Henry. 

"Henry! Hey, Henry, where are you?! Henry!" She yelled, hoping he could hear her. 

"Charlotte? Charlotte!" The boy came from his bedroom and jogged down the stairs.

"What's happening? Everything's been so crazy and I don't get why." He asked her, feeling relieved to see her again

"Can I have some juice?" She asked innocently, trying to prompt him into getting frightened.

"Juice?" Henry couldn't believe that she wanted a drink with all the weirdness going on.

"Yeah, I need some cold juice. You know, refrigerated." Charlotte lied, hoping he'd buy it.

"Okay, that's a pretty specific request," Henry stated, the stress of his dream taking its toll on his patience.

"Just get the juice." She snapped, leaving no room for arguing.

" All right." The boy submitted, walking over to his refrigerator where he was about to get the fright of his life. 

"I'm having a mental breakdown, all she cares about is juice. All right, what do you want, apple? Orange?--" He mumbled to himself, Charlotte looking away just in time as a hideous, winged mutant creature flew out of the fridge and caused Henry to fall to the floor in fright.

"Henry! Henry?" Charlotte ran over to him after the monster went back inside the refrigerator and noticed that he was unconscious. A bright light flashed around his body before it disappeared and Charlotte did a little fist pump in celebration. Her work in the dream was done. 

~Outside the dream~

"Oh my god, he's waking up, she did it!" (y/n) squealed as Henry's brainwaves started to go haywire.

"Henry, Henry, can you hear me?" Ray said to the boy as he and Schwoz lifted the brain scanner. 

"Wake up! Wake up!" The genius encouraged, as Henry groaned in his sleep.

"Walk away from the light!" Ray and (y/n) yelled as Henry's groans turned into screams.

"Ahh, ahhh, ahhh! Monster in my fridge!" He cried as he was shocked into reality. The adults burst into happiness as he came back to them.

"It worked!"

"You're back!" The men helped him out of the chair and Henry blinked the sleep away from his mind.

"Yeah, I was having the weirdest dreams. And you weren't there. But you two were there. And everyone, everything was insane." The kid told them, breathing a sigh of relief that things were back to normal.

"What? Why were we weird?" (y/n) asked, confused as to why Charlotte hadn't mentioned them in the dream.

"Uhhhh, everyone except Charlotte." Henry couldn't tell them what he had seen them do in his dream, he was sure they'd burst into flames of embarrassment.

"CHARLOTTE!" The adults yelled in synchronisation, realising that the girl was still asleep. They let go of Henry, who fell a little from the sudden lack of support and sprinted to the machine's to get her awake.

"Hello? Ray? (y/n)? Anybody?" Charlotte said through her whiz watch, wondering why she wasn't being brought home.

"Charlotte!" Ray appeared over her wrist, worried that something had happened whilst they hadn't been paying attention to her vital signs.

"Did Henry wake up?" She asked, hoping that the plan had gone smoothly.

"Yeah, he's here and he's okay." The man gave her two thumbs up.

"Awesome. Now, bring me back." Charlotte told him, expecting that it would be easy. 

"Right, one sec." Ray stepped away from his camera and looked at Schwoz.

"Bring Charlotte back." He instructed him, but the genius gave him a weak smile.

"We can't," Schwoz admitted, (y/n) sharing his worried look. They hadn't anticipated this. 

"What?" Ray exclaimed, looking between the little guy and his best friend.

"What do you mean you can't?" Henry piped up, finding the strength to walk over to them. 

"Schwoz blew out the transnypular tube." (y/n) said as Schwoz held up the component. He should have listened when the young woman said to be more gentle with the machine.

"Well, can't you get another one?" Ray asked Schwoz.

"Yeah, but it's like a two-hour drive." The genius explained as Charlotte's voice came from over the whiz watch.

"Uh, listen. We're not going to be able to bring you back to reality for about four hours." The superhero broke the bad news to the girl, who did not take it well.

"Four hours?! Well, what am I supposed to do, stuck here in Henry's bizarro dream for four hours?" She spluttered in disbelief.

"Do you know how to play mahjong?" Ray suggested from the top of his head.

Charlotte sighed as she looked around the house. She couldn't believe she'd have to play mahjong with these weirdos for the next four hours. 

"When she wakes up, she's going to kill you." (y/n) told Schwoz, watching as the man put his jacket on.

"You were using the machine too, it's your fault too." He whined back, not wanting to face Charlotte's wrath alone.

"Yeah, but the difference between me and you is that I've got a superhero to protect me. What have you got?" (y/n) smirked, taking her seat beside Ray, fluttering her eyelashes at him so he'd stick to her argument.

"Yeah, Schwoz." The larger man said to the grumbling genius, who knew it would be impossible for Ray to say no to her. He could never say no to her and he'd protect her until his dying breath. They were always on each other's side, no matter what.

[em-ira]

@lilmcttens

The Human Realm Adventures of the Blight Twins AU

This story starts on The Day Of Unity.

The Owl House Season 2, Episode 20,

"Clouds On The Horizon".

It follows the events of the episode, but from the point of view of Emira Blight.

This story veers away from the Canon when Emira and Edric discover something that their father, Alador, had been working on in his work room....

The story starts here...

It was a total accident, me getting here. Wherever 'here' is?

Our attempts to steal Kikimora's Airship while the crew were arranging to load the next shipment of Abomatons to take to the arena were dashed when Mom set two of them to catch me and Ed.

Dang! I should have realized that she was using her Oracle powers to watch what we were doing!

As we were carried up to The Manor, we could see that the others were also caught.

A depressing sight.

The Abomatons delivered us to our rooms, standing guard outside.

More guards were outside, so trying to escape by the window was out!

Luckily, the connecting door between the rooms still worked, so we could sit together, and talk about what might happen next.

Suddenly, there was a series of explosions coming from the factory.

At first, we thought that maybe Mittens and the others had succeeded in getting free.

Then, as we watched, something big crashed out through the roof of one of the buildings, and flew off towards The Head.

A short while later, Ed pointed at the Abomatons outside the Manor. They had stopped moving, and looked like they were shutting down.

Cautiously, we tried the door.

The Abomaton outside the door had shut down!

Sensing that this was our chance, me and Ed made a break for it, and ran downstairs, out the front door, heading down to the Factory.

We were nearing the Factory, when the Airship took off, rapidly disappearing in the direction of The Head.

We ran to see what had happened to Mittens and the others, but there was no sign of life.

We went looking for Dad, and the others.

But he wasn't in his work room.

We searched the entire Factory, it took ages, but there was no sign of anyone.

We came to the conclusion that they must have all been on board that Airship!

Then the eclipse went into totality.

We stood there, unable to take our eyes away from the weirdly Glowing moon.

The light was strange too. Like dusk in the middle of the day!

Without warning, a beam of light emerged from the area of the Arena, and seemed to surround the Moon.

It was hypnotizing.

Then something totally weird happened!

It looked like the moon suddenly jumped sideways!

We hid our eyes from the sudden brightness of the sun.

Then there was a distant rumble in the air, and, looking towards The Head, parts of it seemed to be exploding!

We ran back to Dad's workshop. Looking for anything to give us a clue to what had happened.

Nothing but empty snack bags, and part empty Abomination Casks. Bits and pieces everywhere.

There was this sheet, covering something big against the wall.

We uncovered it, and it was a door.

I joked with Ed, as to where this doorway went to and opened the door, I was only going to look, but I ended up going through it.

There was a bright light, and I fell forward, landing on an old wooden floor, in a building.

The door slammed shut as soon as I was through.

I got up, and tried opening the door.

It opened to reveal a dark, wooded area, and it was raining!

So, I closed the door, I wasn't going out in the Boiling Rains!

I sat down on a chair, and tried to calm myself down.

Where the Titan was this place, and how could I get back home?

Then, I heard footsteps approaching the door, from outside!

I looked around, for somewhere to hide.

No time to be picky, I just had to hide behind that chair!

So~now I'm waiting for whoever, or whatever, is coming to come through the door.

[disneytva]

Disney Streaming Services Brings "Hulu's Animayhem" Experience to SDCC With 20th Television Animation

Disney is bringing it to life through a massive fan experience that invites attendees to the 2-D world of some of its most famous adult animations. They're calling it "Hulu Animayhem: Enter the 2nd Dimension".

Hulu Animayhem: Enter the 2nd Dimension will be in the Bayfront Parking Lot July 20-23, and allows fans of Futurama, Bob’s Burgers, Family Guy, and more to interact with their favorite animated series and characters from 20th Television Animation.

“Solar Opposites”: INSIDE THE WALL (Hulu Original/20th Television Animation)

ZAP! Yumyulack has done it again. As fans enter the 2nd Dimension, they find themselves shrunken down and tossed into the beloved Wall, in this larger than life experience.

Season four premieres on August 14, 2023 with 10 episodes, followed by a Valentine’s Day Special coming in 2024.

“The Great North”: ALANIS BOREALIS (FOX/20th Television Animation)

Fans will step into the expansive Alaskian landscape to join Judy Tobin as she asks for life advice from her imaginary best friend and famed 90’s singer/songwriter Alanis Morrisette. A projected Alanis constellation will appear in the sky and fans can witness the fun, playful interactions between the characters (and maybe even pick up some tips themselves!). 

“American Dad”: HALL OF INFINITE ROGERS (FOX/20th Television Animation)

The CIA’s most wanted alien has endless disguises. As fans continue to make their way through the experience, they get a look into just how infinite Roger’s collection of disguises really is! 

“Family Guy”: 360 TIME TRAVEL & LIVING ROOM (FOX/20th Television Animation)

Step on Stewie’s infamous Time Travel Pad and take a trip through the 2nd Dimension with this unique photo opp.

Guests can also grab a photo on the iconic couch or just sit back and stay awhile as they enjoy the magnitude of Hulu Animayhem content Hulu has to offer.

“Archer”: WALL OF AGENCY HEROS (FX)

Playing homage to Archer’s opening credits, fans can step in to join the cast in this iconic photo moment.

“The Simpsons”: LIVING ROOM (FOX/Disney+/20th Television Animation)

The iconic living room has landed in front of the giant Hulu Animayhem TV. Guests can grab a photo or sit and stay awhile as they enjoy all the content Hulu has to offer.

“Bob’s Burgers”: GRAND RE-RE-RE OPENING (FOX/20th Television Animation)

Fans of Bob’s Burgers won’t be able to resist bellying up to the counter and snapping a pic with their favorite animated family – The Belchers.

“Futurama”: FUTURAMA HAS LANDED ON HULU (Hulu Original/20th Television Animation)

Futurama is BACK for a new season and will be debuting as a Hulu Original Monday, July 24! 

The last piece of the activation will feature an incredible 55 ft replica of HQ, along with a crash-landed Planet Express ship. Inside HQ, fans will be able to immerse themselves in the beloved series with a variety of photo moments and immersive set builds.

[kyriolex]

Skibidi Toilet Recap

I thought Skibidi Toilet sounded like sewage when I first heard about it. Then I watched the first 20 episodes and saw the light. This series is a masterclass in exposition and pacing. We learn something new in each video.  

There is a man’s disembodied head in the toilet. His name is Skibidi, and he sings the Skibidi song while making geometrically impossible expressions with his face.

We see miniature dancing people outside an elevator. An elevator...full of urinals. We discover Skibidi has friends who sing acappella with him. One of them has green hair.  

There is a massive Skibidi in a moving toilet the size of a small office building. He sings in slow-mo audio because he is a BIG BOY, and he crushed a human without even noticing. 

Some Skibidis crash a fancy restaurant. They are actively invading the city, not just oblivious. Also this episode reaffirms that BIG BOYS are always surrounded by smaller Skibidis who accompany them like hype men.

We see tanks and helicopters, so we know the government is mounting a defense. A defense against what, you ask? The flying BIG BOYS who spew smaller Skibidis out of their mouths. In case their malice wasn’t obvious, the Imperial March song is also playing to make it extra obvious.

There are people dancing. It’s unclear if the Skibidi’s song is compelling them to dance or not. But we see the POV character - yes, apparently we have a Protagonist - flush a Skibidi down the toilet. The Skibidis can be vanquished! A bunch of other Skibidis burst in to avenge their fallen comrade. Apparently Skibidis have a sense of comradery.

There are a bunch of men marching down the street. Men with security cameras for heads. I’m calling them the Cameramen. They are marching towards the Skibidis, who are racing down the other side of the street. Also a Skibidi attacks the Protagonist because they hold a grudge.

The Skibidis have erected a golden toilet monument in the park. They have conquered enough of the city to replace our heroes with their own likeness. Protagonist kills two nearby Skibidis, then spraypaints a red camera logo on the monument. Security Cameras are no longer the tool of oppressors. They are the sign of rebellion. We know this because a bunch of Skibidis in cop hats immediately come to arrest the protagonist.

The Skibidis have created a church. A BIG BOY in a halo sings the song of his people in a divine tenor. Then some Cameramen come in to attack. The BIG BOY eats one of the Cameramen, but the others flush him down before he can kill again. The Cameramen give Protagonist a thumbs up, proving that he’s not just a fan, but an active member of the rebellion.

We see other species of Cameramen, such as the flying Projector and a giant with a vintage camera for a head. The opposing army has a demon BIG BOY with a horns and a voice so loud the ground shakes.

The BIG BOYS can shoot yellow lasers out of their eyes now.

Oh God the Projectors come in spider mode now. And they have turret guns. They aren’t as strong as a BIG BOY’s lasers though.

There’s a Berserker BIG BOY who moves extra fast and will steamroll his comrades if it means he can kill the Cameramen.

We see a squad of Skibidies. There is one Skibidi in a brown toilet, but most are white. A Cameramen lures the squad down the street with his sick dance moves. Protagonist then blows up the street from his hideout on a building roof. A Skibidi pushes Protagonist off a building. By now it’s obvious Protagonist is like a cockroach - he won’t die.

Protagonist put a camera (or disembodied Cameraman head) in a toilet. He sends the toilet-camera into a Skibidi base, but they recognize the imposter right away. They kill the spy, then send a jumping Skibidi after the protagonist. 

Some Cameramen are spying on some BIG BOY politician. They set up a flying laser to assassinate the politician. The rest of the Skibidis destroy the rebel laser, then immediately come after the Cameramen with BIG BOYs in spider form. It’s obvious they copied the Spider Projectors seen in episode 12. 

One of the larger Cameramen has destroyed the Skibidi monument in the park and is yanking Skibidis out of their toilets. Apparently there are two ways to kill a Skibidi now. Then we see a massive, kaiju-sized cameraman punt some BIG BOYS into a building with his foot. Kaiju Cameraman gives Protagonist a thumbs up. He is the new hope of the Rebellion.

This is only the first FIVE MINUTES and we’ve already got more story and worldbuilding established than some TV seasons.

[thetorturedpoetsfest]

Welcome to Day 20, of The Tortured Poets Fest!

Thank you so much for coming along for the ride :) Us and these fics, we had a hell of a time!

🤎🤍 Click the links listed below to check out all of the content our lovely Tortured Poets have created for all of us today! (and go to our bio to access the rest of the AO3 Collection)

✍️ Wandwork and Woodwork by RebelWriter99

Ship(s): Dorcas Meadowes/Marlene McKinnon

Rating: M

Summary:

It’s the summer after 7th year, War is seemingly inevitable and Dorcas is visiting her parents home. Very briefly. Now seems as good a time as any to be honest-and she expects to say her goodbyes. Unfortunately, she’s not the only one who’s dropped in for a visit…

Featuring Dorcas squishing some truly nasty Death Eaters and then going to find her girlfriend. Because this is really her party I’m just here to write it all down. 🕯 Fake It Till You Make It by Astrophelion

Ship(s): James Potter/Regulus Black

Rating: E

Summary:

James Potter is missing.

This, for the record, is of no concern to Regulus Black. He’s never liked Potter. If anything, they’re unspoken mortal enemies by dint of the Sirius situation. And even if Regulus did care, which he doesn’t, it’s not as though he has the mental capacity to worry about anyone’s problems outside of his own - see: Dark Mark appointment next week.

Which is what makes it really bloody inconvenient that after almost two months of search parties, false leads, and general public despair, James reappears by crashing straight into Regulus' life.

🗝 Who's Gonna Hold You Like Me? by Zed_5 (art)

Ship(s): Evan Rosier/Barty Crouch Jr.

Summary: But you're in self-sabotage modeThrowing spikes down on the roadBut I've seen this episode and still loved the showWho else decodes you?And who's gonna hold you like me?And who's gonna know you, if not me

📜 The Hogwarts Reunion, or the First Meeting of the aIMee Support Group by kakumeizenya

Ship(s): Harry Potter/Ginny Weasley, Draco Malfoy/Hermione Granger, Pansy Parkinson/Neville Longbottom

Rating: T

Summary:

Inspired by the song "thanK you aIMee" from the new Taylor Swift album, Harry Potter summoned his friends to an emergency gathering (read: school reunion) at his house. Little did he know someone was there to record their conversation and posted it all online on a juicy gossip blog! Will you click on this? Or will you respect their privacy and scroll away?

🖌 The If Only by OnTheMerits

Ship(s): James Potter/Regulus Black, Sirius Black & Regulus Black, Sirius Black & James Potter

Rating: M

Summary:

Does it feel alright to not know me? // I'm addicted to the if, only.

Regulus is a feather taken by the wind, a deranged weirdo, and a dead man walking.

But that doesn't stop him from looking in on the life he could have had.

𓇢𓆸 I Can Handle Me a Dangerous Man by shewritesmaybe and @steveahoi

Ship(s): Evan Rosier/Barty Crouch Jr.

Rating: E

Summary:

Barty's having the worst day and unfortunately, Evan won't let him kill any of the people responsible. Instead, Evan takes him apart bit by bit. He handles his dangerous man, all right.

Pissing off Evan is half the game. When Barty’s pissed off - at work, at his boss, at his father, at the world - and Evan’s pissed off too, and that’s fun. A distraction. A way to cover up the hurts of the day.

‘Cause when Evan was pissed, he punished Barty since Barty usually was the one who pissed him off, and when Barty got punished, he forgot what set everything off in the first place. Got to focus on the pain he was choosing to accept from Evan instead of the pain that anger couldn’t always cover, pain he couldn’t shake in every other miserable segment of his life. That meant something, you know?

**************

Thanks again, and be sure to peruse the full collection on ao3!  🩶 Your mods, @wolfpadx @multiimoments @heartsoncover @lemonlans @mercurial-witch @steveahoi damagecontrol & shewritesmaybe

[stitching-in-time]

Voyager rewatch s5 ep6: Timeless

A big episode for Harry, with a clever timey-wimey plot. Starting with two snow-suited people trekking across a snowy planet, only to find the USS Voyager buried in the ice, was a heck of an opening, and then finding out the episode is set 15 years in the future, with the events that led up to it on Voyager told in parallel, is a cool story device. Garrett Wang got to stretch as an actor, playing an older, embittered Harry Kim, who's wracked with guilt for accidentally killing the entire crew of Voyager, except himself and Chakotay. (Though I think they made him look too old- he was only in his 20s during Voyager, he wouldn't already be grey haired at like, under 45. But I guess accidentally killing your entire crew ages a person!)

Chakotay seems a lot more chill about the whole thing, (despite a creepy scene where he walks through the frozen bridge, and sees the whole bridge crew dead under the frost) and he even acquires a new girlfriend in the future timeline, who helps them out in their mission to save Voyager. (Chakotay is turning into an intergalactic ladies man at this point lol- poor J/C shippers!) Harry and Chakotay are conspiring to go back in time and change history, so that Voyager doesn't crash while using their experimental quantum slipstream drive. They're wanted by Starfleet for stealing the Delta Flyer and some Borg time-travel technology, and we even get a little cameo from LeVar Burton as Geordi LaForge, since LeVar directed the episode. They retrieve Seven of Nine's body so they can use some of her Borg tech (why is there a morgue drawer on board the Delta Flyer?! there is no way that was there before!) and they retrieve the mobile emitter so the Doctor can help them. (Specifically, they need him to dissect Seven's body to remove said Borg tech- which is more than a little creepy! They literally show him holding part of her Borg cranial implant with her prosthetic eyeball attached to it! And yet nobody bats an eyelash?! He just dissected their dead friend!! How is that not traumatic for them all?! Especially the Doctor who actually had to do it! Yikes!! They just conveniently glossed over that nightmare fuel!)

Meanwhile, back in the past, Tom realizes that there's a phase variance that will cause the slipstream to fail (Tom doing science! And at a party, no less! There's my good dutiful boy again!), but Harry figures out a plan to make the slipstream drive work, and volunteers to pilot the Delta Flyer ahead of Voyager to calculate the course corrections himself, which of course will lead to the disaster that his future self is trying to prevent. Twists and turns ensue, but future Harry finds a way to save Voyager in the end, while still getting them ten years closer to home. (I think that brings it down to 50 years from the Alpha Quadrant at this point? I know Kes knocked ten years off, did Q knock some time off too? I don't remember, but they're chipping away at that total pretty steadily.)

The episode is a big visual effects showcase, with the big crash scene on the ice planet, but mostly it's a character study for Harry, but also for Janeway. There are a lot of interesting parallels between Harry and the Captain in this ep, as the two people who are most determined to get home, and, with the alternate future, the most wracked with guilt over not doing enough to get the ship home safe. He's almost like a younger version of her- brilliant, eager to advance, totally devoted to the ideals of Starfleet- you can see why Janeway took a shine to Harry and became so protective of him- she saw so much of herself in him. (It makes you wonder if maybe Janeway became so parental toward him because she had an eye to him becoming her successor for the captain's chair in the event that Voyager did actually take 70 years to get home- it would have been an interesting concept to explore!) And the parallels between them are also strong in that both characters always choose to destroy whole timelines just to get back to and/or save Voyager. Above all else, both of them love that ship and her crew. It was certainly nice to have an episode that highlighted that love after some episodes that seemed to forget it. (Even the Doctor was helpful and encouraging here- a welcome change!)

Tl;dr: A cool time travel/alternate timeline episode with high stakes, that gave Harry some juicy dramatic writing, and reaffirmed the Voyager crew's devotion to each other as an important plot point, which I'm always here for.

[autistic-crypt1d]

My favorite SGA episodes:

S1 E10 & 11 - The Storm & The Eye

Bro this episode is so cool I cannot even begin to describe it anyway other than AJSNDJSKSKFJ. First of all THE DRAMA, I mean, the way they set the scenery up for these episodes is so good. The coming storm, the wind picking up, the crashing waves, empty city. The bacon conversation between the 2 guards right before the Genii come in is hilarious and I love it. The fact that Sheppard is left as the sole person who can retake Atlantis and save Rodney and Elizabeth is so intense. The way Rodney and him work so seamlessly even while entirely separated is just beautiful, I mean, he immediately knows he somehow has to warn Sheppard of what they're after. The way he slickly leans on the intercom knowing Sheppard will take care of it, AHHH. Not only is every single scene of Sheppard running around sabotaging shit and taking out the Genii who come after him absolutely enthralling, but the emotion he displays when Kolya tells him he's killed Elizabeth, the rage. I cannot get over him yelling over the walkie, completely ignoring the torrential amounts of rain and wind bombarding him. He is a badass and everyone knows it.

I'm just constantly in love with the moments where we're shown just how brave and selfless Rodney is capable of being, how he really is inside. I mean, dude stands between Kolya with his gun, a man he knows will kill, and Elizabeth, AHHH. Not to mention, he's always hilarious even in these situations I mean, "Oh would you look at this?! That is just never gonna be useful again!" (And Sheppard knowing that he was absolutely gonna whine about that). Rodney is a drama queen through and through but I love him.

I also thoroughly love the fact that Rodney put up that danger sign and Sheppard is just like "yup, that'll work".

Rodney's arrogance in the face of danger is always so entertaining, but what I love more is how his team members are always the ones trying desperately to get the person like 2 seconds away form murdering him, not to. Like the way Elizabeth, this tiny woman, grabs onto Kolya as he's about to throw McKay off the platform while he's continuing to sass him is so funny. Then it's immediately wholesome as she runs over to him after he's released.

Teyla, Carson (poor Carson), and Ford all meet up with Sheppard just in time for the last grounding rod to be separated and everyone on Atlantis realizing there's only one place to go and everyone, both sides are going to be there, THE INTENSITY DUDE.

I'm not a fan of Sora, but I have to say, the hallway scene when she confronts Teyla, WOW. I mean the intensity of emotion she displays, the blind anger??? That combined with the fact that Teyla doesn't blink an eye once. She knows she can take her down if she has to, but she doesn't and that is what is so badass. Her priority getting Carson to safety, she has nothing to prove to Sora.

And finally, the gate scene where the Genii evacuate and only Kolya is left standing in front of the portal, Dr. Weir held as a human shield. Kolya makes one fatal mistake, thinking that John Sheppard would miss. He takes him out (temporarily unfortunately), releasing Elizabeth, Teyla and Carson get to safety, and Rodney fuckin McKay saves the day in spectacular fashion as always. A beautiful, absolutely thrilling set of episodes.

S1 E19 & 20 / S2 E1 - Siege pt. 1, 2 & 3

Part one is heartbreaking, I mean we start off so hopeful with the discovery of the satellite. They've done the recon, they know what's coming and when and the satellite is in the perfect position and best of all, the wraith think it's still broken. Everything is coming together, right up until the point Peter gets stuck on the station, there's no time left and they all know it. Even in the way they say they'll see eachother afterwards, they know that's not true. Peter knows he is about to die and he goes to work anyway and he takes out a hive ship. This is a moment of pure joy and hope for everyone, they actually destroyed a hive ship. There's hope again, hope that they can actually win this fight, but it's short lived. The satellite malfunctions, the circuits overloaded and it can't fire again. Rodney tries to come back for him but it's too late, the hive ships know that he's there. It was always going to be too late but that doesn't ease the devastation of watching the satellite be destroyed. It doesn't ease the loss of their friend. Rodney relays this information to Atlantis and the loss of the satellite is devastating, but finding out Peter was aboard, that is what killed their hope. Not to mention that while all of this is happening, back on Atlantis Bates has been attacked and people suspect Teyla due to an earlier altercation. We find out that there's a Wraith in the city and he's been there since the dart incident episodes ago doing god knows what. They're about to be in an all out war and the enemy is already inside. The interrogation provides nothing, as we know of wraith, they fear nothing. Never in the history of this show do we see a wraith beg for their life, no, they smile. They smile because they have no doubt in their minds they will be avenged, that the people who killed them will be fed upon by their brethren soon enough.

Part 2 is in one word, intense. The hive ships are still on the way, slower, but none the less inevitable. They've lost their only weapon against the incoming armada and they're faced with the reality they have to evacuate the only place capable of returning them to the milkyway, and destroy centuries of data. Then, just as they're dialing the alpha site, they get an incoming wormhole. Earth has sent help. The colonel guy bugs the shit out of me but the plan is good. The daedalus is on it's way with a new ZPM, 4 days, that's how long they have to hold out. The way Sheppard stands up for Weir to the Colonel is beautiful, they have their moments butting heads but he respects her and he'll be damned if she gets cut out of this. Now, with military and volunteering personnel recalled back to Atlantis the preparation begins, the city and its citizens being decked out in artillery. Hope is once again starting to appear, but no one is sure how this will turn out, they know what's coming for them but every single person is ready to try. 4 days alone against the armada. They've deployed the mines and initialized the chair but my god does it ever go wrong. They find out there are only a few dozen drones left, presumably depleted from the original war on atlantis, and now the mines are in danger. The Wraith have sent asteroids hurtling towards the atmosphere, taking all of them out in one fail swoop. Not only have they lost their first line of defense, but the radiation is blocking their sensors, they're blind. Now if only someone suggested they keep some of the mines (oh wait SHEPPARD DID). Now it's revealed that Colonel Sumner was a friend of Colonel Everett's and he is pissed at Sheppard. We know, and Sheppard knows that he did the best he could that day. Killing Sumner was the most merciful thing he could've done in that's situation and as much as I dislike Everett, the way he finds out how true that is, is awful. The moment of truth arrives, a wave of darts in inbound and the great city of Atlantis goes dark. The only light being that of the moon and artillery from both sides. Amidst it all McKay and Sheppard are together as always, trying to get the chair online as darts make runs at the city. For the first time Everett starts to get a glimpse at what he's up against as an entire group of his soldiers are taken by a wraith beam, no way to fight back, just gone. The first wave of darts is defeated, they've survived the night but it is far from over. The hive ships are still on their way and there are wraith in the city. Both Athosian and Expedition members alike begin searching the city while Rodney and Zelenka attempt to retrofit the puddle jumpers to be driven by the chair. The only way for this plan to succeed is for Elizabeth to broker a deal with the Genii for a Nuke. She of course succeeds because she's a badass, and another plan is officially on its way, BUT, another problem, the devices are incomplete. The next wave of darts is here and the jumpers aren't ready. "So long Rodney" you could write this off as Rodney being the person who happened to be in the room when he decided to man the jumper manually, but I think we all know that's not the case. He's run off in silence without so much of a word to anyone more times than I can count, but Rodney, he has to say goodbye, even if it's a crappy one. Now we see Colonel Everett backed into the corner, alone with a Wraith. He shoots, but it doesn't stop, it keeps walking towards him and you can see the look on his face change as he fires round after round into it. He knows he's about to die, and he's terrified because he knows how it's going to happen. More and more wraith are entering the city in numbers they can't hope to defend against. "You let Sheppard fly that jumper?" God he is so heart broken in this moment, he never had the chance to stop him but Elizabeth, she had the opportunity and she didn't. I don't think he ever could've truly forgiven her for that if he'd died.

Part 3 is the culmination of everything so far, the wraith are not just at the doorstep they are inside the home, they have surrounded the house and there is nowhere to run, nowhere to hide. Everything they have tried has only prolonged their deaths and Sheppard is on his way to take a hive ship out with him. At the last second he's saved by the Daedalus, but Ford is not so lucky. His squad is cornered by wraith and with his final breath, one of the soldiers let's go of a grenade. Ford and the wraith that had latched on to feed are sent hurtling over the railing into the ocean below. The daedalus brings a moment of relief to the expedition as it prepares to join the fight. They take on the final hive ship as darts continue to bombard the city, this fight isn't over yet. We find out that Everett has been saved by one of his downed squad members, but he is not unscathed. The daedalus takes put the final hive ship with a beamed nuke, but they're not done yet. The darts get in formation and take a ballistic approach towards the city in a last ditch effort. Rodney and Teyla manage to get the ZPM safely to the gate room only for McKay to forget how they work and almost get them killed. Once all is said and done Atlantis survives another day and all that's left is to clear out the rest if the wraith in the city. Now is when we find out just how bad Everett's status is. He's aged significantly, leaving him bedbound and ill. His new understanding of what happened to Colonel Sumner leads him to apologize to Sheppard for his accusations. There is no break as we find the condition of Ford, a wraith attached to his chest, both having been floating in the cold ocean for hours. This has been days of constant activity and it's still not over. The cruisers that fled brought reinforcements, 12 hive ships headed straight for Atlantis and they'll be there in a little over a day. Sheppard decides they should go on the offensive, attack them before they get there and they do. They manage to nuke 2 ships but then we see a perfect example of the level of intelligence the wraith possess. They manage to enact counter measures in a matter of minutes to prevent them from beaming the nukes aboard. The daedalus has no choice, they have to retreat. Ford... his storyline makes me so sad, especially in this episode. The character we love so dearly, this boy who has seen war and conflict and violence and is still so full of joy and love loses himself before our very eyes. Before the eyes of his friends and there's nothing they can do to stop it. He attacks his friends, his fellow soldiers and he can't stop. He's lost all control over himself and it's heartbreaking. Amidst all of that, the hive ships have arrived and they've gathered in formation over Atlantis and have begun to fire. This is a horrifying glimpse into what the war 10,000 years ago must have been like. The amount of firepower being exerted on the shields will deplete the ZPM within days, the ancients had 3 but that's not much more time. Sheppard comes up with the idea to cloak the city and Rodney executes it perfectly, faking their deaths to the wraith and all others. Truly, truly an incredible series of episodes.

S2 E13 - Critical Mass

A Goa'uld infiltrates Atlantis planting a bomb somewhere in the city (or at least they think so). This episode gets so wild, interrogations, suspicion, fear, a race against the clock and the entire episode is just so enthralling. Plus we get a hint of how the Goa'uld fear the possibility of wraith getting to the milkyway (I'm going to do a post about the stack up between Wraith and Goa'uld in a fight here if you're curious as to my thoughts on that)

They manage to relay the message to the Daedalus and then to Atlantis in time but "there's a bomb in Atlantis that'll be triggered by dialing Earth" is not super helpful.

They remove the ZPM but once the virus program realizes the gate is no longer an option if forces their hand by calling the wraith. If they don't connect it again, the wraith will destroy them, if they do, the program will overload the ZPM and destroy them. The hunt for the spy in their ranks is so intense, Kavanagh is almost tortured, the city is about to be destroyed. This all culminates to them finally finding the spy, but it's not a human spy, there's a Goa'uld inside Caldwell! Ronon has to absolutely wail on him, then he gets tazed by Sheppard until the symbiote is hurt enough for Caldwell to break through and give them the code. It's so intense and I love it.

S3 E4 - Sateda

Now this episode is amazing, it's a combination of heartwrenching and completely badass. The team comes across a village Ronon stumbled across during his years as a Runner and as a result it was culled. The villagers recognize him and they're captured (Rodney escaping with an arrow in his ass). Ronon manages to bargain for Sheppard and Teyla's freedom, but they're unable to return fast enough to prevent the wraith from capturing him and wiping out the village.

The wraith makes Ronon a runner once again, but they take out the gate. They won't let him leave alive this time. Now Ronon is faced not only with the threat of basically endless waves of wraith coming to kill him, but also the memories of his home world where they've dropped him. For the first time we see glimpses of what Sateda used to be like, what his life here was like. It's such a heartwrenching experience to see him fighting for his life while remembering the destruction of his previous life at the hands of the very wraith who did it. I mean god, watching him come across the bodies of his fellow soldiers and be forced to strip them of their armour and weapons just to survive...

We never find out much about the other runners aside from Kiryk, but even then we don't find out much. I find it hard to imagine a runner surviving longer than Ronon had honestly, and I believe that's why the wraith that made him one wants him so badly. It's a point if pride at this point, he's evaded them for years slaughtering the wraith who've come after him.

Seeing Ronon try and fail to convince his wife to leave is devastating. She couldn't bear to leave the people who needed her behind even knowing none of them would survive. To make matters worse, we see him watch her die right in front of his eyes. The scenes where he's taking out the shrapnel and remembering her death brings me to tears every time.

The way Ronon immediately slumps down onto the ground once he realizes Sheppard and the team have come for him is just so AHH!

S4 E17 - Midway

This episode is so damn good, first off I mean, we get the absolute treat that is Teal'c and I'm THRILLED. Not to mention we get to see him AND Ronon together and that is just a trip. Teal'c matches his energy and holds his ground and I love him. Ronon is very off putting to pretty much anyone whose not his team or someone he isn't comfy with yet. This is very apparent many times and his meeting Teal'c is no exception. He's immediately threatening and guarded, but does this throw Teal'c off? Hell no!

These two have clashed the entire time so far and now it's time to go back to Earth. There's of course the 24 hour hold on the midway station, nothing too crazy right? WRONG, the wraith show up! Now all that's standing between Earth and a wraith take over is Ronon and Teal'c. These two are undeniable badasses and forces of nature and we get to see that front and center here and I love it. I mean, these two entirely on their own, take out all the wraith that stormed the SGC. That's a lot of wraith!! Not to mention they're awesome as hell while doing it. I just love this episode a lot and I love Teal'c and Ronon a lot. Also, the least irritaing/infuriating episode with Kavanagh in it.

S5 E10 & 11 - First Contact & The Lost Tribe

I love this episode so much. Right off the bat we get Daniel again. Love that mf. There are also 2 intense ass plotlines happening simultaneously here with Daniel and Rodney being kidnapped by rogue Asguard (like, holy shit), and then the activation of the Attero device causing Todd to panic and take over the Daedalus leaving Keller and Ronon to try and take it back!

Ok so we've got Daniel and Rodney discovering the ancient lab, being the hilarious duo that they are. Everything is fine until this strange ship shows up. Not only is this a ship that they've never seen before, but it completely bypasses Atlantis's shields. Then we see 3 suited up aliens leap from the ship onto the tower. Fall damage? Never heard of it. These things completely ignore the strike team Sheppard and Teyla lead, taking some sort of device straight through the floors of the tower while getting shot at. They head straight for Daniel and Rodney and there is no hesitation and no stopping them. One of them sacrifices itself to shield the other 2 while they get away with Rodney, Daniel, and the device and it's over before they even know what's happened.

Now we get Keller and Ronon alone on the Daedalus as Todd has knocked out the bridge crew. It's up to them now to regain control as wraith beam aboard.

Part 2 starts off wild with the Daedalus taken over and the stargate exploding in the control room with Sheppard and Radek inside. Now both groups have realized what this device is doing and are trying to fix it before millions die, problem is, Todd wants to destroy the facility with Daniel and Rodney still inside so Sheppard and Zelenka along with the Traveler ship are trying to beat them there! Meanwhile Daniel is discovering that they're being held captive by Asgard. This is mindblowing because so far we've seen zero evidence of them in the Pegasus galaxy and now we find out that they've been hiding out here for a long ass time. We also find out that they have been conducting experiments on humans like Loki did and have sorta stabilized their cloning defects.

The fact that they came to the Pegasus Galaxy and took advantage of the war in order to hide and experiment and did nothing to help the Ancients win makes me so mad. What if they could've won with their help?

My god the tension at the end portion of this episode is wild!!! The Daedalus has been retaken but it's on a collision course with the facility, Sheppard and the Traveler ship arrived but their drive is burned out, the Asgard have left the facility, but they took the control device with them leaving Daniel and Rodney with no way to shut it down. Rodney of course figures out another way, but that means going inside the chamber that is currently full of volatile lighting.

They of course succeed and in such a fantastical way with the Traveler ship opening a hyperspace window to travel through the planet with the Daedalus and Daniel almost dying while they shut off the device.

Overall, I love these episodes so much, the intensity, the sass between Daniel and Rodney, it's so good.

S5 E14 - The Prodigal

This episode is so intense and just awesome in general. Atlantis is under siege from Michael and his hybrids, Teyla and her baby have been taken captive, and everyone but Ronon and some gate room personnel are trapped outside this stun bubble thing. Sheppard, Rodney, and Zelenka immediately get to work and as soon as Ronon is awake he starts formulating a plan. The fight scene between Ronon and Michael is amazing as always, not to mention him yelling for Teyla to run and being the reason she's able to get her and her baby to safety before he gets hurled over the railing. That man can take a beating god damn. Sheppard and Rodney quickly get to work trying to shut down the stun bubble but Michael starts the self destruct timer, expediting their timeline. Teyla's escape is fantastic I mean the stress you can see on her face is so amazing, she's a fighter and always has been but she has to get her baby out of there, she has to leave Ronon to fight Michael by himself and it's killing her. Once they finally do shut it down (avoiding Sheppard's suicide run), they can finally storm the gate room. Michael makes a run for it but Sheppard is so not letting that happen, the jumper bay doors are closed, the gate room is retaken, there's nowhere for him to run anymore. They end up on this balcony and it's one of my favorite fight scenes of all time, the moonlight, the height, the batman like scenery, fists flying, it's so intense. We've been waiting for this moment for so long, the final confrontation and BOOM, Teyla enters. Her face is stoic, she is determined and no one will stop her, he will not get away this time. She lands every hit with no mercy and when he finally topples over the edge, gripping on only by his fingertips, she kicks him off. It's so intense and such a fitting end to his storyline in my opinion, for it to end in Atlantis where it started and to be ended by Teyla.

S5 E20 - Enemy at the Gate

Ah the finale of Stargate Atlantis. I'm really sad the show ended prematurely but this episode is still amazing. Not only has a hive ship started to successfully integrate a ZPM into it (a feat which if fully completed, would make it virtually impenetrable), but because of their new advanced sensors they've also picked up the signal with Earth's location from the alternate reality. Now there's an incredibly advanced hive ship on it's way to Atlantis and 2 ships have already failed to stop it. It's up to Atlantis to save Earth and the Milly way now. Sheppard is sent to Earth ahead to operate the chair in case they don't make it in time but that communique also contained the location of the chair and they immediately destroy it. Earth is defenseless so Sheppard takes a suicide run at the hive (again), only to be saved by Rodney, Teyla, Ronon, and Lorne gating aboard from a stalled Atlantis. They all make it out alive (although Ronon did briefly die and I cried), thanks to the spectacular arrival of Atlantis via the wormhole drive. They buy enough time in a fantastical battle above Earth for them to escape and the hive is destroyed. The scene of Atlantis on Earth is so beautiful and the whole main cast on the balcony, just fantastic.

If you can't tell, I love this show so much and if for some reason you're seeing this and haven't watched it yet, please do, it's amazing.

[black-arcana]

Taylor Momsen Explains ‘Gossip Girl’ Exit on Penn Badgley’s Podcast, Details Pain and Darkness After Best Friend’s Death: It ‘Almost Killed Me’

Break out your headbands, Upper East Siders and Jenny Humphrey stans. Taylor Momsen reunited with “Gossip Girl” star Penn Badgley for the first time since the 2012 series finale of The CW teen drama, appearing on the Sept. 6 episode of “Podcrushed,” Badgley’s SiriusXM podcast with Nava Kavelin and Sophie Ansari.

During the hour-long episode, the pair reminisced about their time on “Gossip Girl” together; Badgley portrayed Dan Humphrey, while Momsen played his little sister, Jenny, for four seasons. She was just 12 years old when the pilot was shot, and says she didn’t really want to leave her middle school friends — but was “convinced” to do it.

“Larger powers than me came down and went, ‘This is a great opportunity,'” Momsen, now 30, said during the episode, which was recorded before the SAG-AFTRA strike. It was then, filming the show, that she really leaned into music. “That’s where music became such a solace for me. Thanking back on my life, it was this place where I could just be — writing songs, emoting how I felt. I was by myself a lot. I didn’t have my own clique.”

Of the actors on the show, Momsen, who’d played Cindy Lou Who in “How the Grinch Stole Christmas,” was the youngest — Badgley was 20 when he got the role of Dan, and most of the actors playing the show’s high-school characters were in their early 20s. Only Connor Paolo, who played Eric, the younger brother of Serena (Blake Lively) was even close to Momsen’s age. “I didn’t fit in with you guys, I didn’t fit in with Connor’s friends — I was younger than them,” Momsen said. “I was the new girl. I was ‘Grinch’ girl. I was always in this kind of weird, isolated world, partially of my own creating, probably.”

Momsen was in a band with her school friends before “Gossip Girl,” then moved to New York for the show, which debuted in 2007. Two years later, she founded The Pretty Reckless, the rock band she leads that’s still together today.

“It was a childhood thing that I got put into at two years old. I wasn’t making my own choices then,” she said of acting. “Literally, as soon as I got to an age where I could make my own decisions, it was like a click… I woke up one morning and went, ‘Wait a second. I don’t have to do this? I don’t have to do this other job? I can just play in my band and tour and write songs? I can just do that?’ Granted, a little more complicated to get out of a television show than that, but the answer was yes.”

With that, she said she “uprooted and changed my life overnight,” with the help of the “Gossip Girl” team.

“They went, ‘Well, we can’t let you out of your deal, but we can write you out of the show, so you can go on tour,'” Momsen said. “They really allowed me to follow my dream, and I’m forever grateful and thankful to them for that.”

Momsen, who admitted she’s never watched the show, was a series regular for the first four seasons of “Gossip Girl.” However, she appeared in only four episodes of the fourth season — due to touring — before her character moved to London. At the time, there were reports of her being difficult on set and let go. When Season 5 premiered, she’d permanently exited the show to focus on music, but came back for the finale, “New York, I Love You XOXO,” which aired in 2012 and featured a song from The Pretty Reckless.

The band just wrapped their “Death by Rock and Roll” tour, during which they promoted an album Momsen wrote after two big deaths in her life. In 2017, Chris Cornell died by suicide on the last night of his band Soundgarden’s tour with The Pretty Reckless. Less than a year later, Momsen’s “fifth band member” and best friend Kato Khandwala died in a motorcycle crash.

“It took me very down. I fell into a very dark hole of depression and substance abuse, and everything that comes with death and loss and trauma,” she said on the podcast. “I essentially quit everything. I stopped making music; I couldn’t listen to music. It bummed me out, for lack of better term. It was dark. It got very dark there for a while.”

Momsen shut herself off from everyone and “fell apart,” but was eventually able to turn to writing new music to honor Khandwala’s legacy. “I’m going to finish what we started, and not let this take me down entirely,” she recalled feeling. “It came very close to that. I had to make a very conscious decision at some point — where I was either gonna die or I was gonna move forward. I chose to move forward.”

Each night on tour, the band walked on stage to audio of Khandwala’s footsteps, which is the opening of the album’s title track. “It took something that was incredibly sad and devastating and almost killed me, and I tried to turn it into my power,” Momsen said. “He’s here with me every night. He’s no longer here but we’re still doing this together.”